Take A Stand: Star Of Ceartais
by Garouge Faux
Summary: Set 15 years after Take a Stand; When an earthquake and the resulting tsunami decimates Zootopia poverty and crime rates sky rocket. 5 young heroes rise from the ashes of this disaster, trained by the infamous MM gang to bring hope and justice back to Zootopia. One of these heroes is Robyn Wilde, the daughter of Nick & Judy, it's time for a new generation to Take A Stand!
1. Wilde Sisters

(AN/ I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack! It's Garouge/Crewefox here with a sequel to Take a Stand, and if you haven't read it yet please give it a read it'll make the plot of this fic make a lot more sense. I want to thank Ziegelzeig, Senny and raykamino for helping get this project off the ground and helping me with art and plot ideas. Also and this is important helthehatter's OCs Kodi and Sasha will show up in this fic, with Kodi playing a key role, these characters belong to her and I've asked permission and she deserves the credit for their creation. I figure this fic will be between 30-40 chapters long clocking in at over 100k words again like the previous story. I look forward to reading what you think of this new fic, so without further ado lets get cracking with this new story...)

 **Prologue: Wilde Sisters**

Robyn Heather Wilde wore a sulk mixed with frustration as she sat inside the principal's office, the fifteen year hybrid girl wasn't looking the two faculty members in the eye as they kept watch over the scrappy teen. If you were to take a brief glance at Robyn you would almost certainly assume she was a very tall hare with a long ears and red fur but if looked closer at her you'd notice something a little more canine about her; her inside of her paws had pads which no bunny or hare possessed they also had sharp claws unlike dull rabbit ones, her coat was thicker and fluffier than a bunny, also the fur colourings on her face resembled a European red fox complete with white speckles on her cheeks that looked like snowdrops, if she was talking you would notice her very sharp predator like teeth but the dead giveaway was her tail which instead of a cute fuzzy wuzzy little cotton tail was long and beautiful brush. Robyn had been dubbed many things; a hybrid, a interspecies child, a box, a funny and by crueller tongues a freak. The teen didn't care if she had no official species name, she liked who she was and knew her family and her friends loved her, and despite her tough exterior a lot of mammals would say she was beautiful. But at the moment there was dent in the beautiful rabbit like face, a swollen and cut right eyebrow and a busted lip that had yet to scab over.

Robyn had got into a fist fight with Patricia Autumn, a very popular Chinese water deer the same age as her during Food Technology class which resulted in both teachers and classmates having to separate the two brawlers, even though Patricia was taller and had hard hooves Robyn had used her superior speed and strength to land some good strikes on the pretty doe. The big question that lingered though was what the fight was about. Neither girl was willing to say what had triggered the bout, the no snitch rule was absolute even when dealing with enemies, it seemed like a complete mystery to the teachers as the pair had zero troubles in the past. Patricia was brought to the school councillor's room while Robyn was sent to the principal's office on the other side of the school; St. Zoo High. The principal, Mr. Thorn, a hedgehog had left the office twenty minutes ago to call Robyn's parents and the implications of this made Robyn's stomach turn, her parents were seasoned cops and when they wanted to be they could be very intimating and strict. Forty one year old Chief Judy Wilde may appear as a sweet and kind bunny on the surface but also had the ability to strike fear into the officers under her command and as for her forty nine year old Dad Captain Nick Wilde well he could fast talk and get the truth out of anyone. The door of the principal's office opened and Robyn's navy blue eyes shot to it expecting to see Mr Thorn and her parents in the doorway but by some saving grace someone else was standing there, a gorgeous red furred Vixen in her early twenties dressed in a simple jeans and purple t shirt combo looking at Robyn with worried amber eyes. "Luna?" Robin gawped in surprise.

Luna hurried into the office while fretting "Oh my god Robbie are you ok?" the Vixen getting a closer look at Robyn's injuries.

"Not that I'm complaining but why are you here? Where are Mom and Dad?" Robyn gave an awkward smile to her big sister.

"Lucky for you Robyn both your parents are tied up with work," Mr Thorn cut in, scurrying over to his desk, climbing the specially placed ladder so he could be atop of the desk "the chief is attending a meeting at city hall and your father is conducting some narcotics bust so they directed me to call your sister."

"Who did this to you? Are you feeling dizzy? Have you cleaned these cuts?" Luna fussed over her baby sister.

"I'm fine honestly, I just got in a scrap is all." Robyn tried to play down.

"That so called scrap resulted in three other mammals having to pull you off Patricia." Mr Thorn sniped. "We know it was Patricia who punched first but if you want to escape punishment you'll have tell us why you two were fighting."

There was a brief silence before Robyn mumbled "…sorry I can't."

Mr Thorn let out a sigh before saying "Ok Robyn you have detention for the next four Saturdays and I'm sending you home today."

Robyn took her punishment on the chin with a nod and a simple "Yes sir."

Luna still looked worried but instructed "Come on, let's get you home." Putting a gentle paw on the schoolgirl's shoulder.

The Wilde sisters walked out of the office in silence, and through the quiet halls of St. Zoo high, luckily all the other students were still in class so they couldn't see Robyn's embarrassed and bloody face, the hybrid was the same height as her big sister and even taller if you counted her ears. It was only when they got into Luna's very pricey Bugatti sports car (Which she had bought with her inheritance from her birth mom; Victoria) that Robyn said anything. "Thanks for coming to pick me up." She said sheepishly.

"It's ok," Luna gifted a comforting smile before questioning "so are you at least going to tell me what's going on?"

"Luna please." Robyn dodged turning away from her sister's pleading face.

"Come on, it's me Robbie, we tell each other everything." Luna egged on.

"It's complicated." Robyn avoided.

"Ah yes the default teenage answer," Luna said with mocking wistfulness "look you owe me an explanation."

"Owe you?" Robyn responded cynically.

"I got in from a night shift at the hospital at 9am, I was scrubbed in surgery for most of my shift covered in blood and guts. I get home and have a nice relaxing shower then crawl into my warm and welcoming bed, my happy place. But I only got three hours sleep because Mom calls me raging that you got in a punch up, so my dear baby sister you owe me an explanation." Luna guilt tripped, noticing the ever growing regret on Robyn's face.

It's at this point Robyn did something unexpected; she began to cry. Robyn was is no way a crier, when she was a baby she barely wailed, when she was a toddler and fell over she would pick herself up and march on, when she was in elementary school and bullies used to pick on her for being a hybrid she'd give them a knuckle sandwich and snide remark but at this moment the fifteen year old couldn't stop her beautiful blue eyes from bursting with tears. "Luna…." Robyn mumbled with a quivering lip.

Luna's sense of worry only grew, she couldn't remember a single instance of her sister crying, the Vixen took hold of Robyn's paw and asked with the kindest tone possible "What's wrong?"

"P-promise me you won't laugh." Robyn forced, still crying.

"Of course I won't, just tell me what's wrong." Luna promised.

"I'm in love." The red furred hybrid said way too quickly but Luna had heard the confession.

Luna's worried expression softened, she was actually surprised that her baby sister hadn't come to her earlier for romantic advice but she still had the niggling aspect of Robyn getting in a fight over the said infatuation. Luna quickly formed a strategy in her head, like she always did before saying "Ok if we're going to talk about something as serious as love we're going to need a bucket a KFC and some milkshakes got it?"

"Got it." Robyn complied, wiping away some of her tears.

ONE HOUR EARLIER…

While the hallway was bustling with students walking to class Robyn was stood at her locker looking at the photos that adorned the inner side of the door, a few were of her and her family, most of them contained her and her friends but she was focused on one photograph in particular, it was taken a year previous on the beaches of Sahara Square; She was captured mid laugh and in a hug with a beautiful white vixen with black stripes decorating her body. This mammal she was hugging in the photo was Hannah Savage, her best friend since they were babies, Hannah was only three months older than Robyn and their fathers had been best friends from childhood thus resulting in the two of them becoming best friends. But even though both hybrids were best friends they couldn't look or be anymore different, Robyn was loud, energetic and wore her heart on her sleeve while Hannah was reserved, relaxed and was always wearing a smile. For the first fourteen years of their lives this odd friendship had worked but it was Robyn who first realised a change, Robyn was an athletic type of mammal joining the under sixteen MMA squad for Zootopia and the school track team, her natural beauty and down to earth charm had earned her the affection of some of her fellow students. Robyn had been flattered by all the attention and had agreed to date a muscle bound bobcat from her MMA squad named Mike, he was nice looking and just plain nice, he was a real gentlemammal and treated Robyn with the upmost respect. But at the same time as Robyn started courting Mike, Hannah dropped a bombshell; she was gay. Robyn was as surprised as everyone else to learn this but was genuinely supportive when Hannah started dating a coyote lass in the year above. But then something that confused Robyn reared it's head, she was becoming envious. Every time Robyn would see Hannah and her girlfriend kiss she would get this little stabbing feeling in her chest and she started to think of Hannah when she was making out with Mike. Robyn tried to dismiss these feelings as simple jealousy, that her best friend from birth was hanging out with someone else but soon enough she realised she wanted hold Hannah's paw, hug her and most of all kiss her. Robyn ended her brief relationship with Mike, things were awkward between them for a while but it passed, then after a month or so Hannah had broken up with her older girlfriend leaving Robyn with the possibility of forging romance.

"Yeah right." Robyn criticized her thoughts, looking at the photo. "As if I have a chance."

"I'd say you have a good chance." A friendly voice offered, behind her. Robyn turned to see a male wolf smiling at her with kindness, his fur was mostly black but from his muzzle down the hair was white that covered most of his abdomen under his shirt, his brown eyes looked at Robyn with a little sympathy and in his paws he was shuffling his lucky deck of cards like always "I can see the ship now; WildeSavage or would it be Robnah or maybe Hanbyn."

"Quit it Kodi." Robyn groaned closing her locker door.

"Ah I see you are having your daily pity party as usual, you know it will do you no good." Kodi advised. Kodi Jones had been a friend to both Robyn and Hannah since kindergarten and since the age of 4 the wolf had always been happy, positive and a little bit of a show off. The trio of friends had always been close but Kodi was the first to pick up on Robyn pining for Hannah, when he voiced his suspicions to Robyn she begrudgingly agreed to tell him everything in return for keeping his trap shut.

"Like I'm going to take dating advice from you." Robyn smirked at her taller friend.

"Hey I can't help it if the she wolves of this school can't handle me." Kodi grinned.

"You know there is a word for a mammal like you." Robyn poked, putting her rucksack on her shoulder.

Kodi knew what Robyn was getting at but still jested "Heartthrob? Hunk? Desirable?"

"A player." Robyn shot down.

"Speaking of which I think I just spotted my new player two." Kodi grinned putting his cards back in his jacket, his brown eyes trained on an attractive silver furred she wolf in a red dress walking down the hallway. Kodi practically twirled in front of the girl and flashed his winning smile "Hey Beryl."

Beryl rolled her eyes and groused "For the last time Jones I'm not going to go out with you."

"But my beautiful Beryl surely you must realise there's a certain," Kodi teased before waving his paw and rose appearing out of nowhere "magic between us."

"Lame." Beryl snorted before turning her nose up at the wannabe Casanova and walking away.

Kodi's defeated face turned to irritation when he heard the laughter of his old friend "Ha ha ha, oh man you are such a dork." Robyn chortled.

"Alright, alright at least I tried, unlike someone I know." Kodi countered, folding the fake rose and tucking it back up his sleeve.

"Oooh was that bitchy comment aimed at me?" Robyn sassed.

"Seriously though, you need to tell Hannah how you feel." Kodi said quietly, keeping Robyn's desire secret.

"Look it's just hard ok." Robyn replied, noticing the real concern in her friend's face. "I mean I haven't told anyone else that I'm Bi apart from you."

"Not even Luna?" Kodi sounded surprised.

"No." Robyn answered, sounding guilty.

"Look you and Hannah have been best friends since you were kits, when you tell her that you have a crush on her one of two things will happen; one you'll start dating or two you'll stay friends. Your friendship won't end just because of this, you two are too important to one another." Kodi spoke his mind.

"…I guess." Robyn shrugged unconfidently.

"Can you just give it a try? Please." Kodi pleaded.

"Give what a try?" A voice chimed in.

The two friends looked to their side to a see Hannah Savage looking at them, she was dressed in black yoga pants and a pastel pink gym top, her luxurious white fur looked extra shiny today and her black stripes made her look exotic and to top it off her beautiful vixen like face framed a set of aqua blue eyes that always entranced Robyn. "Uhhhhhhh." Robyn sounded, the skin under her fur heating up.

"I just wanted Robyn to join my guild on this new MMO I'm playing." Kodi fibbed, rescuing his friend from embarrassment.

"Oh is that all?" Hannah chuckled.

"Hey what's with the sporty get up?" Kodi asked, nodding at Hannah's attire.

"That's what I came to tell you guys, I just got some amazing news." Hannah beamed, sounding hyped.

"What?" Robyn asked, smiling at her happy crush.

"I've been made captain of the dance team! My first practice is tonight." Hannah gushed.

"Hey congrats Stripes." Kodi grinned, playfully shoving her.

"That's awesome, all those years of ballet practice are finally paying off." Robyn praised.

"Thanks, listen I have to get to art class, I'll call you guys later." Hannah proposed, waving before going to walk away.

"Wait!" Robyn said abruptly.

"Yeah?" Hannah responded.

"Um, well after your dance practice, uh, could we hang out? I want to talk to you about something." Robyn asked, wondering if it was possible to die from awkwardness.

"Sure, how about we meet at the Bugga burger near your house around five?" Hannah suggested.

"G-great see you there." Robyn stammered, Hannah then turned on her heel and made her way to the art room oblivious to her best friend's affections.

"Whoa, nice going Wilde." Kodi quietly cheered.

"I'm going to tell her." Robyn stated in a determined voice.

"You two are my real life OTP." Kodi admitted.

"Ok now you just sound like a shipper." Robyn cut down "What's next you going to draw some fan art or write a fanfiction?"

"Don't tempt me, and don't pretend you don't want to see a piece of art of you and Hannah kissing." Kodi taunted.

An image of Hannah leaning in for a kiss flickered through Robyn's mind turning the visible skin of her ears pink thus triggering Robyn to punch Kodi in the arm and mumble "Asshole."

A few minutes later Robyn and Kodi arrived in the Food Tec classroom, it was still a couple of minutes before the lesson began, students were talking at the various kitchen islands and the teacher was writing down the recipe for a tofu madras curry on the white board. Robyn and Kodi went to their usual kitchen island, the friends always teamed up for most classes together but as Robyn put her rucksack on the floor she heard something that made her long lapin ears twitch "Did you hear that skank Hannah Savage got the dance captain spot over ME?"

Robyn directed her gaze to Patricia Autumn who was chatting to two of her cronies "I mean why the hell did she get the spot?" The Chinese water deer ranted "I bet it's because she's a hybrid, the faculty didn't want to seem prejudice."

Robyn instinctively stepped over to Patricia, tapped her on the shoulder and said defiantly "Hannah became captain because she's a great dancer, she's been doing ballet since she was five."

"Who asked you Wilde? Mind your own business." Patricia dismissed.

"You insulted my friend, I was just setting the record straight." Robyn replied with steely eyes.

Kodi noticed what was going on and tried to pull his friend back "Come on Robyn forget about it."

Robyn shook off Kodi's paw before adding "She got the captaincy fair and square."

"No she didn't that little bitch played the hybrid card to get what she wanted." Patricia falsely theorized.

Robyn's tail fur went on end at the word 'Bitch' and she subsequently growled "Don't call her that."

"Call her what? A dumb hybrid bitch with a dumb bunny for a dad and a fox bitch for a mom with an ugly ginger hybrid bitch for a best friend." Patricia verbally attacked.

It took of all Robyn's mental strength to stop herself using her claws to tear the deer's eyes out but Robyn decided to parry with her words "At least I'm not a mammal who gets some perverted thrill out of bullying, Hannah will always be amazing and have friends while you will become a lonely bitter doe who nobody likes."

That last sentence struck a nerve in the popular girl because she brought her hoof slamming into Robyn's jaw, the whole class gasped at this but Robyn licked away the blood from her newly busted lip and gave a toothy predatory grin before diving on Patricia and hammering her fists into her face.

NOW…

"And you know the rest." Robyn lamented, dipping her fries in a tub of gravy before munching them.

"Oh Robbie." Luna empathised, the two Wilde sisters were back at the family apartment sitting at the dining table with a bucket of fried chicken. Luna had long since moved out of her parents' home and had relocated into her inherited penthouse not far from the hospital where she worked.

"You don't seem shocked." Robyn commented, still chewing.

"About what?" Luna asked, sipping on her strawberry milkshake.

"About me being Bi." Robyn answered, sounding a little shy.

"I guess I'm not, but saying that I've never been bothered by other people's sexuality." Luna summed up.

"So what do you think I should do?" Robyn sought advice.

"Well you can't meet Hannah tonight, Mom and Dad will be home soon and more than likely ground your butt, you should message her and tell her that you can't make it." Luna planned out loud.

"And then? Should I tell Mom and Dad about me being Bi? Should I tell Hannah what the fight was about?" Robyn asked thrice, growing agitated.

"Calm down, getting worked up over this won't solve a thing but as for your answer; it's your choice about your next step." Luna soothed.

Robyn considered her options, all of them daunting and frightening but she eventually said "I know what I have to do."

(AN/ So what did you guys think!? Do you like the new characters? What do you think will happen? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW and c ya' soon...cos I'm posting the next part now!)


	2. Dreams and Reality

(An/ Whoa that was quick! Thanks for clicking to continue the story, so without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter.)

 **Chapter 1- Dreams and Reality.**

Robyn needed to relieve some stress after pouring her heart out to Luna, the teen had retreated into her bedroom and began jabbing at the punching bag that hung from the ceiling. Luna was sitting on her sister's bed playing a beat em' up game on Robyn's games console, the doctor wanted to stick around until Nick and Judy got home just so she could calm her parents down when they inevitably started telling Robyn off. "Man I miss videogames." Luna sighed as she defeated her virtual opponent and waited for the next round to loud.

"Then when why don't you buy a console? You're rich enough." Robyn replied, delivering a high kick to the punch bag.

"It's having the time that's the issue, between work, hanging out with my friends and making time for…" Luna began to answer absentmindedly before silencing herself, she was such a blabbermouth that she'd even snitch on herself sometimes.

"Time for what?" Robyn asked innocently, still throwing punches at the bag.

"Never mind." Luna lied, avoiding her sister's gaze and began the next round on the fighting game.

Robyn stopped hitting the bag and gave a dubious look to her elder sister "You know you never inherited Dad's skill at lying." She smirked.

"Drop it Robbie, I'm trying to play." Luna attempted to kill the conversation.

"Oh come on Lu," Robyn crooned taking a seat beside Luna "I just told you my big secret, can't you tell your favourite sister?"

"You're my only sister." Luna griped, still focused on the gameplay on the TV.

"Exactly, so I'm automatically the favourite." Robyn grinned, nudging Luna in the arm.

"By your logic then you're also my most hated sister." Luna countered, mashing the buttons on the controller.

"Please, part of you wants to tell me, you were always a little tattle tale." Robyn teased.

Luna paused the game and defended herself with "I wasn't that bad."

"So are you going to tell me? Huh, huh, huh?" Robyn pressured, being deliberately annoying.

Luna knew how tenacious her kid sister could be so she conceded with a huff and a "Fine."

"S-o?" Robyn dragged, willing Luna to reveal the truth.

"I'm dating a guy, there, end of story." Luna answered, trying to act as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I need details, come on tell me about him." Robyn convinced.

"Ok," Luna mumbled, it would be nice to speak to a family member about it, she had only revealed her relationship to her best friend Oliva "but you got to promise not to tell anyone, if word gets back to Mom and Dad they'll freak out."

"Oh please, don't be so dramatic you're an adult, you can date who you want." Robyn played down.

"Look we both know how protective Dad is of the two of us, I just don't want him to scare this guy off, so please keep your trap shut." Luna reasoned.

Robyn then began to sympathise with her big sister, she knew from her brief relationship with Mike that Nick was super protective when it came to his daughters dating, so much so that Nick had run a background check on Mike to see if he had any prior offences. "I promise I won't tell." Robyn agreed.

"Ok he's a grey fox, his name is Aleks and he's 24." Luna told with a small smile "We've been dating for about three months and he really makes me happy."

"Three months? Well kudos to you for keeping it under wraps for so long, Miss Blabbermouth." Robyn jested. "So how did you guys meet?"

"Well it was at the gym I go to, he was new and trying to figure out how to get the treadmill working, I leant him a hand and we got talking. After our workout I invited him to lunch and well that's how it began." Luna pleasantly remembered.

"So what do you like about him?" Robyn enquired.

"Aleks is so much nicer than the other guys I've dated, he's kind of old fashioned but in the right way, he's handsome as hell, he makes me laugh and he's brilliant in the bedroom." Luna listed.

"Ugh, I did not need to know that last part." Robyn commented with disgusted look.

"Don't be such a prude, mammals have sex." Luna replied.

"Yeah but I don't want to think about my sister doing the nasty with some dude." Robyn sassed.

"Oh don't pretend you haven't had sexy thoughts about Hannah." Luna teased with a mischievous grin.

The visible skin of Robyn's ears turned pink and hot in a heartbeat, her mind instantly whipped up a naughty thought which caused the young Hybrid's pulse to hasten. "Jerk!" Robyn barked, punching her sister in the arm.

Luna started laughing as she rubbed her sore arm, Robyn had a mean punch, but she stopped as soon as she heard the front door of the apartment open, Robyn must've heard it as well because her face dropped. "Girls?" Nick voice called out, he didn't sound angry but then again he was good at masking his emotions.

"Where are they?" A peeved Judy asked, the sound of her foot hammering the floor with frustration could be heard all the way in Robyn's room.

"Crap." Robyn said meekly, fearing the telling off she was about to get.

"I'll go talk to them, butter them up so they won't shout at you so much." Luna offered, leaving in the room.

"Thanks." Robyn replied with an uneasy look.

Luna stepped out of the room and into the hallway where she could already her hear parents talking "Did they head to Luna's place?" Nick wondered.

"Nope, the place smells like fried chicken, that's Luna's go-to comfort food for her and others." Judy commented, her foot still thumping the floor.

"Oh you know me so well." Luna tried to charm, entering the open plan living room/kitchen.

"Hey Kiddo," Nick smiled at his eldest child who came over and kissed him on the cheek "thanks for helping us out today"

"No problem." Luna replied before going over to her Mom, crouching down so she could hug and kiss the bunny properly "Hey Mom."

Judy skipped the pleasantries and went straight to "Where is she?"

"Nice to see you to." Luna reacted jokingly "I hug and kiss you and I get nothing in return, oh for shame."

"Trying to distract us? Really?" Judy asked with a dubious tone "You used to get Robyn to do the same thing for you when you were a teenager."

"Oh, uh, ha ha, you got me." Luna laughed nervously "Ok just don't go all crazy at her, she's had a rough day."

"It's about to get rougher." Judy responded.

"Carrots let's at least hear what happened from her side." Nick voiced his opinion.

"Fine," Judy conceded before calling out "Robyn I know you're standing in your doorway listening to us, come on out and face the music."

Five seconds later Robyn emerged from the hallway with eyes looking down at her feet and her long ears droopy, Judy saw the busted lip and scabbed over eyebrow and gasped "Oh sweet cheese and crackers." Her tough façade cracking as she rushed over to her much taller daughter to inspect the injuries "Are you ok? Does it hurt?"

"I'm ok, I've got worse hits in a sparring match." Robyn admitted.

"Well then this is going to hurt." Judy's tough voice returned before she grabbed and pinched one of Robyn's ears then let go.

"Oww! Mom!" Robyn whinged, her paw taking hold of her now sore ear.

"What the heck were you thinking? Having a fistfight in the classroom? You could've got really hurt." Judy demanded an explanation.

"I can handle myself." Robyn parried "Besides I didn't start the fight, Patricia threw the first punch."

"You may not have not started the fight but you sure as hell finished it, your principal said it took three mammals to drag you off Patricia, just tell us what happened." Nick stated, his voice calm, Robyn guessed this was his good cop voice, while Judy was being bad cop.

"Patricia hit me first, I hit back harder." Robyn tried to gloss over.

"We thought you were passed this, the only reason we let you do MMA with your grandmother was so you could focus your anger, I mean you haven't got into a fight since middle school and now you do this." Judy berated to her very guilty looking daughter.

"I'm sorry." A sullen Robyn replied.

"So what did this girl say to you? Was she bullying you?" Nick probed.

"No." Robyn answered.

Judy looked to Nick, he was better at telling when someone was fibbing, Nick shook his head to indicate she wasn't lying "You wouldn't tell Principal Thorn why the fight started either, why?" Judy pressured "If you're in trouble you can tell us, we can help."

"It's nothing like that." Robyn dodged, feeling uncomfortable.

Luna looked at how difficult this line of conversation was for her baby sister, coming out wasn't easy and now wasn't the right time for her, she instinctively leaped to the defence of Robyn and interjected "Do you guys trust us?"

"Huh?" Nick sounded.

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, caught off guard.

"Do you trust Robbie and me?" Luna posed the question, standing beside her sibling.

"Of course we do." Nick replied, mentally kicking himself at how easy it was for his daughters to manipulate him.

"Look I know why the fight started," Luna announced "and before you ask what it is I'm not going to tell you because it's nothing bad, it's not bullying, it's nothing illegal, it's something Robyn has to sort out on her own."

"Thanks Luna." Robyn thanked with sincerity, it was nice to know her sister would always stick up for her.

"You can't expect us just to drop it?" Judy scoffed.

"Yes I can and yes will you," Luna laid down the law "Robyn's a good kid, she's been doing well in school and respects you guys, so please trust her and trust me on this."

Nick and Judy exchanged a humbled look before Nick smiled at his daughters "Did you two just hustle us?"

"Maybe." Robyn smiled back. "So are we cool?"

"We're cool," Judy agreed, her hard demeanour softening "but we're still grounding you."

"One week, you're only allowed to go to MMA practice." Nick added.

"Figures." Robyn accepted with a sigh.

"Come here." Judy said opening her arms, Robyn took a step over and hugged her mother tightly with Nick and Luna joining them, even if she couldn't control her social or love life Robyn Wilde's family life felt perfect.

000

The rest of Robyn's evening consisted of her doing homework and replying to the myriad of text messages she was getting; Kodi messaged her to see how she was holding up, her grandparents Marian and Robin heard about the scrap and text for details although it was nice that they didn't scold her and then the text came that she was somewhat dreading; Robyn's stomach turned when she read the words '1 New Message from Hannah' …

 **Hannah -** _Robyn are you ok!? I just heard you had a fight in food class and got sent home from school! Are you hurt?!_

Robyn groaned a little upon reading this, she had hoped that this news hadn't got to her crush but in high school gossip spreads like wildfire. Robyn typed her reply…

 **Robyn –** _No need to worry, that stuck up doe just needed to be taught a lesson. Sorry I can't meet up at Bugga Burger, I'm grounded._

Within seconds Hannah replied…

 **Hannah-** _What happened? She's always been kind of a bully, like some popular girl cliché in a teen movie. Why did she hit you?_

 **Robyn-** _It doesn't matter, it's over._

 **Hannah-** _You can tell me, I'm your best friend, if she was picking on you it's ok to talk about it._

Robyn's heart warmed at how caring and considerate Hannah was being but she knew if she told her friend the truth that the fight started because Patricia was badmouthing Hannah she would just get upset about it. Robyn decided to change the subject and composed the next message…

 **Robyn –** _I need to talk to you about something, face to face. Can we meet up before first period tomorrow?_

 **Hannah –** _Sure, I'll be in the dance studio early anyway, come meet me there. It's nothing serious, is it?_

Robyn gulped before fibbing with a text…

 **Robyn –** _It's just something dumb, see you in the morning._

 **Hannah –** _Ok, nighty night x_

Robyn smiled at the little 'x' at the end of the text, she knew this was just Hannah being friendly but Robyn's mind pictured a getting small yet sweet kiss from the beauty. "Ugh, I'm pathetic." Robyn criticized herself for her lovey dovey thoughts. She got up from her desk and away from her history homework and went over to her wardrobe to pick her outfit for tomorrow, if she was going to ask Hannah out she was going to look her best.

000

Chief Judy Wilde sighed a little as she looked at the framed family photos around the living room while she sipped a glass of red wine, the first picture she focused on was a very tired and younger version of herself laying in a bed dressed in a hospital gown holding a tiny new born Robyn. It had been a really difficult pregnancy, the hardest any doe in her family had been through. Rabbits were known for having a litter of kits and in the beginning that was what the doctors had told to her expect; there was four heartbeats in her womb but her body couldn't take the larger size of the hybrid babies and eventually only one heart beat remained, her little fighter. The doctors and midwife told her that this little survivor was going to be a boy, her and Nick decided to name the supposed boy Robin after his grandfather but when the little bundle of joy came into the world it was a girl, it was Nick who suggested changing the 'I' to a 'y' and the name just stuck; Robyn Wilde. Now she was fifteen and reminded Judy way too much of herself, the police chief was beginning to wonder if this is how her own mom, Bonnie, felt when raising such a rambunctious child.

Judy then looked at another photo and a soft smile creeped up on her face, it was her and Nick's wedding day. Judy in a stunning strapless wedding dress, white as snow and her face a picture of pure joy as she held the three year old Robyn in her arms with Nick beside her, dressed in black tux with a emerald green cravat with a ten year old Luna next him, the flower girl was giving the biggest smile possible. The wedding had been held in Bunnyburrow, on Hopps farm as per the family tradition, and was arguably the biggest wedding that had graced the carrot farm. Her big sister Heather had been her maid of honour with Skye Savage and Nala Priderock as her bridesmaids while Nick had his best friend Jack as his best man with Finnick and Clawhauser as his groomsmen. The couple had been married twelve years now and she couldn't say she was any less in love with her dumb fox, if anything their love had grown more and more.

"You ok Fluff?" Nick asked, the fox was doing the dishes in the kitchen area of the open plan room.

"Mmm," Judy sounded "just thinking about the old days."

"Yeesh and I thought I was supposed to be the older one out of the two of us." Nick joked, drying his hands on a cloth before going over to his wife.

"It's just weird you know, seeing Luna stand up for Robyn today just reminded me that she isn't a kid anymore and before we know it Robyn will be an adult." Judy voiced her mind, taking a sip of wine.

"They'll always be our baby girls no matter what age they are." Nick assured, wrapping an arm around the bunny.

"It's just time's gone by so quickly, I mean Luna's a surgeon now." Judy added.

"Yeah, it only seems like yesterday you nearly ran her over in the cruiser." Nick chuckled, remembering the first time they met the amber eyed kit.

"And soon enough she'll be giving us grandkids." Judy hoped.

Nick's smile morphed into a frown as he mumbled "Over my dead body."

"You don't want grandchildren?" Judy asked, accustomed to her husband's protective nature.

"Grand kits would be amazing," Nick corrected "it's just dealing with a son in law that I'm not looking forward to."

"Oh stop it, do you really think Luna would get knocked up by some suave fox stereotype? She's too smart for that." Judy asked with a smirk.

"Well you're smart and I got you pregnant." Nick gave a smart ass reply.

"Har har," Judy fake laughed "look Luna's a grown vixen, she can date who she wants, just try and be a little more open minded next time she introduces a boyfriend. The same goes for Robyn."

"Tch, fine." Nick agreed but had no intention of abandoning his patriarchal defences.

"Anyway, what do you think Robyn's punch up was about?" Judy asked, the subject still niggling at her.

"It's high school stuff," Nick guessed "we're just going to have to trust Luna's word on this, if Robyn was into anything bad her big sister would tell us right away."

"I suppose." Judy accepted taking another look at her wedding photo and hardly believing her daughters had grown up so fast.

000

Robyn knew she was dreaming because she had lived this moment before, she was sat on the sofa in the living room dressed in her PJs watching a seventies kung fu movie with Hannah beside her also in nightwear. This had happened a few weeks ago, just after Hannah had broken up with her ex, Robyn invited her best friend over to cheer her up and seeing as both girls loved old martial arts films they decided to have a movie marathon. _Why the hell am I dreaming about this?_ Robyn thought as the dream played out in her mind. "Um…Robyn?" Hannah spoke up in a slightly jittery manner.

 _Huh? I don't remember her saying this, why does she look so jumpy?_ Robyn thought as she simply responded with a "Yeah?"

"I, uhh…." Hannah struggled, all of a sudden Hannah used both her paws to grab the shoulder of Robyn's t-shirt to pull her closer and surprised with a kiss, Robyn's navy eyes were wide with alarm even though she was savouring the delicate touch of Hannah's lips. _Screw it_ Robyn thought and decided to embrace the dream, the red furred hybrid took hold of Hannah and drew her in closer and kissed her deeper. Robyn could feel the tender touch of Hannah's paw caressing her cheek, Robyn let out a mew of pleasure as the striped girl's paw moved up behind her ear, her weak spot, and stroked gently. It felt intimate, romantic and…

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

The sound of the alarm clock on her phone ripped Robyn away from the delicious dream, she let out a very annoyed groan as she reached over to her bedside table and slid her paw against the screen to silence the infuriating noise. Robyn had a remnant of the dream flicker through her brain as she whispered to herself "I've got it bad."

Robyn got out of bed with a spring in a step, as she got dressed she kept telling herself "You can do this Wilde." The teen picked up her rucksack then took one last look at herself in the mirror, she was wearing her best jeans that hugged her legs, a short black vest top that left her toned tummy on show and small loose fitting t shirt that went over her vest. "I look awesome." Robyn psyched herself up. Robyn went into the living room/kitchen to find it empty but a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel was waiting on the kitchen counter for her along with a glass of orange juice with a note written in her mother's handwriting 'Have a good day baby and please don't get in another fight- Mom & Dad x'. Robyn shrugged at the note and started to eat her bagel, her parents always left for precinct 1 at 6am but would always leave breakfast out for her, the young hybrid chowed down the bagel with haste then downed the juice in one gulp before grabbing her keys and heading out the door, there was no way on earth she was going to be late today.

Fifteen minutes later Robyn walked through the gates of St. Zoo high in the heart of the Sherwood neighbourhood, it was still early and not that many students were around although her long rabbit-like ears could hear whispers like "Hey isn't that girl who got sent home yesterday?" and "I heard she wiped the floor with that Autumn chick." Robyn ignored the words and made her way into the school building and towards her locker where a couple of familiar faces were deep in conversation. "Ok big guy, is this your card?" Kodi asked holding up a three of diamonds to a broad shouldered and athletic lion whose mane had a reddish hue to it.

"Nope, sorry." Kion Priderock replied, the eighteen year old high school senior was wearing a simple black t shirt and khaki shorts.

"Damn it, where did I put that card?" Kodi asked himself in overly dramatic fashion "I know, why don't you check your wallet?"

"Huh?" Kion reacted.

"Indulge me." Kodi pressed, shuffling the remaining cards in his paws.

"Ok…" Kion replied, sounding curious. He did as instructed and got his wallet out of his shorts, he opened it and found an eight of clubs next to his cash, he picked it out and gawped "What the?"

"I trust that was your card?" Kodi grinned with satisfaction.

"Yeah, whoa I mean that was amazing," Kion asked, flabbergasted by the trick "how'd you do that?"

"He won't tell you," Robyn chipped in, walking over to her two much taller friends "he did the same trick on me and Hannah last week and he never told us how he did it."

"Crafty Kodi never tells on his spells." Kodi declared theatrically.

"Crafty Kodi? Dude that name sucks." Kion snorted, passing the card back to the wolf.

"No it doesn't," Kodi defended "it's derived from witchcraft, get it?"

"Still sucks." Robyn digged with a snigger.

"Pfft, you two don't have a theatrical bone in your bodies." Kodi brushed off.

"You're right, I'm one hundred percent an athlete." Robyn replied, holding up her arms and flexing her guns.

"Speaking of which," Kodi cut in, looking down at Robyn "what the hell happened with that fight yesterday? It was all over furbook."

"It was nothing." Robyn lied her reply, opening her locker and throwing her rucksack in.

"Nothing is the reason you turned the food tech room into a fighting arena?" Kion questioned with an unconvinced look on his face.

"If you must know Patricia said something speciest about hybrids, I called her out on it, she hit me and I hit back." Robyn danced around the truth.

"Hmmm." Kion sounded, knowing he wasn't get the full story "Just keep your head down squirt, I don't want you getting in trouble, you're like a little cousin to me."

Robyn looked up at the lion with warmth and gratitude, she had known Kion her whole life and always been a close friend despite the three year age difference, he was always there when she needed advice or a favour "I promise if I need to punch that skank in the face again I'll run it by you first." Robyn jested.

"Atta' girl." Kion chuckled, using his massive paw to pat her on the head.

"Anyways you guys doing anything tonight?" Kodi asked out of the blue "I gotta' go to some photography contest for Sasha, there's free food and we might be able to sneak some booze off the bar."

"Polite pass, my sister's back in town and we're having a family dinner." Kion declined.

"Kiara's back in Zootopia? I thought she was stationed in Germany?" Robyn asked, the lioness was a dedicated soldier who was often posted overseas.

"Yeah, she's here supervising some new recruits at the local base for a few weeks, it's great to have her home." Kion shared, his happiness clear in his voice.

"How about you Robyn?" Kodi moved on.

"I'm grounded for a week, no way will my folks let me go." Robyn answered with a shrug.

"Oh well," Kodi sighed "more cheap champagne for me."

"Aren't your parents going to be with you?" Kion asked, wondering how the wolf would sneakily consume the booze.

"Hey it ain't only foxes that are sly wolves can be too, remember I'm Crafty Kodi." Kodi bragged.

"As a half vixen I can honestly say you have 0% slyness in you." Robyn taunted before walking off towards the dance studio.

"Hey where you going?" Kodi asked.

"To talk to Hannah." Robyn answered as she continued to walk.

Kodi smiled and whispered "Good luck."

Robyn arrived at the dance studio, which had been built with the money donated by the school's most famous alumni and Kodi's mother; Gazelle. There was even a bronze plaque outside the room saying 'The Gazelle Jones Song and Dance Studio – _Try Everything_.' Robyn took a deep breath as she made her way to the door but stopped in her tracks when she saw Hannah through the little window in the door, Hannah looked gorgeous as ever as she did her warm up stretches although Robyn had to wonder why the girl of her dreams (Literally) was choosing to practice in a retro sixties blue dress with a white belt instead of her usual yoga pants and t shirt combo. Just then some music started to play, it sounded classical, Robyn remembered it was a waltz because she had seen Hannah practice to it before. Hannah was smiling at someone to the left of her and offered her paw inviting them to dance, a blonde furred female goat came into view and let Hannah take hold of her hooves and two began to dance together with both of them smiling and laughing. "Oh…" Robyn's voice managed as her heart ached at the scene and her thoughts filled with romantic stress _She's got a new girlfriend, I was too slow and now she's gone…again. You're an idiot Robyn! As if she'd like you that way! She sees you as a friend and that's all you'll ever be!_ Robyn didn't know it but she was crying again, she wanted to look away from Hannah and the goat girl dancing together but she just couldn't bring herself to do it, Hannah looked so radiant she was a joy to look at even if it hurt. But just as the song was coming to a close Hannah's eyes fell upon the door and the crying face behind the glass "Shit!" Robyn cursed when she realised she had been spotted, Hannah's face was weighted with worry as she ceased dancing before the striped mammal could walk over Robyn had bolted.

Robyn had retreated to the one place she knew no one would be; the cafeteria kitchen. It was a known fact that none of the kitchen staff showed up until after first period and Robyn and her friends took advantage of the quiet zone and unguarded pudding cups but right now Robyn was sat in corner with her face buried in her knees and sobbing quietly. "Robyn?" An unsure but kind voice asked.

Robyn looked up with her weeping eyes to see a fretful Hannah looking back at her, the dancer had crouched down so she was eye level with her sobbing friend "H-hey…" Robyn stammered.

"I saw you crying outside the studio," Hannah spoke, not wanting to beat around the bush "what's going on?"

Robyn stood up quickly and turned away from Hannah "It doesn't matter anymore." She sniffed, wiping away her tears and trying to compose herself.

"Of course it matters, you're upset, please just tell me what's going on." Hannah encouraged with her gentle voice.

"So, um, what's her name?" Robyn asked, avoiding the question.

"Who's name?" Hannah asked back, obviously confused.

"Y'know the pretty girl you were dancing with." Robyn answered, trying her best to appear not upset but failing "She seems nice."

"Wait Polly? Yeah she's on the dance team," Hannah answered before trying to piece together the puzzle "hold on do you think I'm going out with her?"

"Well, yeah. I mean you'd be a fool not too, she's really good looking." Robyn attempted to sound positive.

"And straight." Hannah informed.

"She's….." Robyn couldn't complete the sentence, she felt so stupid "But you were dancing together?"

"Yeah, we're on the dance team, we were practising." Hannah told before asking "Is that why you were crying?"

Robyn just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole at this point, she felt like the biggest idiot in Zootopia, if there was definition of screwing up asking someone out this was it. Robyn took a few steps over to a tall industrial fridge and slammed her fists to it three times each punch was accompanied with a metal bang and a "Shit!" from Robyn's mouth.

"Robyn! Stop!" Hannah exclaimed, worried for her friend.

"Hannah…I need you to not say a word for the next minute, I'm going to say something that's really difficult for me to say but I need to tell you and if I don't say it now I don't think I ever will." Robyn requested, looking into the aqua blue eyes of the girl she adored.

Hannah despite being really confused and concerned just nodded and allowed Robyn to speak.

"Ok, so, um….I'm bisexual, may as well get that one out of the way," Robyn revealed with a trembling voice, she could already see the shock in her friend's eyes but she continued anyway "and I only realised this when I saw you with your ex, I was jealous, ok? I know I'm a horrible person, but sometimes I just wanted to throw your ex girlfriend across the room, then grab you and say 'Mine!' because I really like you, and not in a friend way, in a girlfriend kind of way. I dumped Mike because all I could think about is you! You're on my mind constantly, I mean I had a dream last night that we were making out on my sofa. I know this is a shock and this is not how I planned telling you, just please tell me we're still friends and I haven't messed up our friendship…" Robyn finished her rant and hid her crying eyes with her long ears, embarrassed and fearful of Hannah's reaction.

Five seconds past, then ten, then fifteen before the most gentle voice conceivable spoke "Robyn look at me."

Robyn was hesitant but removed her paws from her long ginger ears so her watery eyes could see, she stopped breathing though when she saw that Hannah's alluring muzzle was a few centimetres away from hers. Hannah raised her paw and placed it under Robyn's chin then guided her in for a kiss, Robyn could hardly believe what was happening, she closed her eyes and focused her other senses on the kiss. Hannah's kiss was soft and sweet, just like her. Robyn's heart was thundering along as she felt all the skin under her fur heat up, the butterflies in her stomach were dancing and her lips felt like they were melting. Hannah ended the kiss, pulled back before admitting shyly "I like you too."

(AN/ Behold the cliffhanger kiss! What did you guys think!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Robyn and Hannah arrange their first date, Luna and Olivia protect their latest creation, we meet Luna's mystery BF, Nick goes into 'Nightmare Dad' mode and Luna gives Robyn a makeover. Please review and c ya soon...)


	3. The Last Night of Normal

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceratais. Ok I really want to thank everyone who has supported this new story so much within a week this story has amassed 143 followers, 109 faves and 70 reviews. Thank you from the bottom of my heart guys you really are great people and I hope you enjoy what's to come. Oh and to answer a common question I've got this week Ceartais is a Irish Gaelic word for justice and it's significance will be addressed in upcoming chapters. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter…)

 **Chapter 2- The final night of normal.**

Hannah raised her paw and placed it under Robyn's chin then guided her in for a kiss, Robyn could hardly believe what was happening, she closed her eyes and focused her other senses on the kiss. Hannah's kiss was soft and sweet, just like her. Robyn's heart was thundering along as she felt all the skin under her fur heat up, the butterflies in her stomach were dancing and her lips felt like they were melting. Hannah ended the kiss, pulled back before admitting shyly "I like you too."

"You…you….you." Robyn uttered, her head hazy from the kiss.

"I like you Robyn." Hannah repeated, trying her best not to giggle at Robyn's dumbfounded face.

Robyn's face was a muddle of shock, confusion and celebration, she just didn't know what to say. Her plan to ask out Hannah had never got past confessing her crush, there was no chance in hell she was going to admit she was in love, that would be a disaster. "Can you say that again?" she asked, pretty sure her voice was more shaky than usual.

"I like you," Hannah smiled "I've always had a crush on you."

"What?" Robyn squeaked "Hold on, you have a crush on me? Since when?"

"Honestly?" Hannah replied, looking at her feet "Since before I came out, long before actually…you were my first crush."

"W-why didn't you say anything?" Robyn reacted.

"I didn't think you were into girls." Hannah answered.

"Holy crap." Robyn mumbled.

"Sooooooooooooo…." Hannah dragged, tilting her head and staring at Robyn with her aqua blue eyes "is this the part where you ask me something?"

"Oh yeah," Robyn realised, she could hear her own racing heartbeat as she asked "You want to go out with me?"

"Of course you dummy." Hannah answered before kissing Robyn again.

"I-I can't believe this." Robyn gave a lovesick grin.

"Well it's a bit of a surprise for me too." Hannah charmed, keeping her cool as she took hold of Robyn's paw. "I have to ask though; who knows about you being Bi? I mean I'm your best friend and you didn't tell me."

"Only Luna and Kodi know." Robyn revealed, loving the feel of Hannah's paw.

"You haven't told your parents?" Hannah nearly gasped.

"Look it was hard enough telling you." Robyn jested.

"So when are you going to tell them?" Hannah wondered.

"My plan was to have you pick me up for a date and then kiss you in front of them." Robyn joked, scratching her head awkwardly.

"That's a wonderful idea." Hannah complimented with a smile.

"Huh?" Robyn sounded, not believing that Hannah didn't know she was joking.

"Skip the awkward coming out speech and just say 'Hey this is my girlfriend', your parents are cool so they won't make a big deal out of it." Hannah followed up. "I wish I had done that with my folks, would've been a lot easier."

Robyn was about to protest but then actually thought about the option, Robyn knew that her Mom and Dad would have no problems with her being in a relationship with a girl, seeing a few of Judy's siblings were gay and two same sex couples were close friends with the Wildes. Robyn could avoid all the anxiety and the uncomfortable confession by just showing up with introducing Hannah as her date. "Hmmm that ain't a bad idea Savage." Robyn grinned,

"So when do want to go out on a date?" Hannah asked, a little giddy.

"How about tonight? I kinda' had this little fantasy where we would go for a nice meal in the Sapphire quarter of Sahara Square." Robyn voiced her plan.

"That sounds amazing, but aren't you grounded?" Hannah shot down.

"Crap, I forgot." Robyn huffed.

"We can do it next week, don't worry." Hannah soothed.

"Wait, I got an idea." Robyn smiled, getting her phone out of her jeans pocket. Right now she felt like the luckiest girl alive, she just hoped that this streak of luck would stay with her as she selected Luna's number.

000

In the business sector of Savannah Central different skyscrapers rose like trees in a woodland, some were gaudy eyesores, some were well designed pieces of architecture but one particular building stuck out like a sore thumb it was Zootopia's first skyscraper ironically called the Small tower after it's architect a Echidna named Cuthbert Small who designed the building for a steel firm back in the 1920s but now it was all refurbished and the corporate headquarters of Dawson Tech. A company that was leading the way in healthcare technology, pharmaceuticals and more importantly augmented limbs for amputees, within four years the company had grown to unprecedented levels and consistently making profits while keeping drug costs down for the consumer. The CEO and chief engineer of the company was Olivia Dawson and she wasn't like any other CEO in Zootopia or the rest of America, she implemented some very conscious rules but also some very odd ones. The first and most welcomed rule was a zero tolerance policy on discrimination of any type be it species, gender, sexuality, and religion but there were other rules like board member must take suggestions from staff and there was no dress code so you could either come in your best suit, pyjamas or cosplay if you wanted.

But as Luna Wilde stepped out of the elevator at the forty second floor, simply known as the lab she was wearing her best suit and holding two paper coffee cups and headed straight for the desk beside the lab entrance where a small pot belly pig barely out of his teens was typing away at a computer, he had very short white fur over him with black spots the most noticeable one was over his right eye. "Morning Pua." Luna greeted brightly.

Pua looked up from his laptop, a little surprised "Oh good morning Miss Wilde, I didn't hear the elevator."

"Let me guess, you trying to organise Olivia's crazy schedule?" Luna asked rhetorically with a laugh, passing the pig a cup of coffee "Hazelnut Latte with an expresso shot, just how you like it."

"Thanks, you didn't need to." Pua replied gratefully, he was dressed in a casual white shirt and black shorts.

"I figured you need it with little miss tornado in there." Luna chuckled, nodding at the lab entrance.

"Believe me Miss Dawson is a great boss, she's kind and very caring," Pua sighed "but she has more energy that any mammal I've ever met, I mean how can a person so small have that much fire in them?"

"Ha! She's nothing compared to what she was like when we were kids, I remember one summer she modified my parents' police cruiser so much it was like a tank and that was just with stuff she found laying around the precinct." Luna reminisced.

"Sounds like her." Pua replied before taking a swig of coffee.

"Is it cool for me to go in?" Luna asked, the manners instilled into her as a child would never die.

"Miss Wilde you own 10% of this company, you may go wherever you like." Pua answered with a knowing grin.

"Thanks Pua," Luna responded, putting her paw on the scanner beside the double door to the lab "and for the last time; please call me Luna."

"Not going to happen Miss Wilde." Pua bantered, as he went back to work.

Luna just shook her head as the door unlocked and she entered the lab, only to be met with the sound of very loud metal music and the clinical smell reminiscent of a surgical theatre. "Olivia?" Luna announced her presence, but received no answer. She walked by a glass case of robotic limbs of varying sizes and around the corner to see Olivia on a table top looking down a mouse sized microscope with a bank of rodent sized computer monitors next to the scope. The twenty two year old brown mouse had a wrapped lollipop tucked behind one of her heavily pierced ears, a simple white lab coat covered a red tartan dress with torn fishnet tights and had a multitude of necklaces hanging around her neck. "Hey!" Luna barked over the loud music.

Olivia looked up from the mircroscope and looked at Luna with a hint of surprise "Hey, I thought told you to swing by in the morning?" she queried, her Scottish accent sounding tired.

"It is the morning, it's like 8am." Luna tittered at the sleepy look on her best friend's face as she hit a few keys on her computer to silence the music.

Olivia let out a groan then griped "Yet another night of sleep eludes me, I swear I'm starting to forget what my bed looks like."

"Aww poor little genius." Luna cooed "Anyway why'd you need me to come in? I thought we were meeting for drinks tomorrow?"

"We are but this couldn't wait," Olivia replied, sounding excited yet sleepy as she pressed a key on her computer, the large screen on the wall came on showing a schematic of what looked like a robotic insect "I finally cracked it."

Luna's eyes lit up with wonder and gasped "You finished the prototype!?"

"Prototypes," Olivia corrected "I managed to make two batches last night; project steel blood is a go."

"I can't believe it," Luna yipped "all your hard work has finally paid off. Medical assisting nanomachines, you'll win a nobel prize for this!"

"It ain't about the prizes," Olivia said, sounding proud "it's about who we can help. Think about it, cancer sufferers, mammals with HIV and Aids, we could change their lives."

"So what did you program the nanomachines to do?" Luna asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the technical marvel.

"A simple command; adapt and survive." Olivia answered.

"You do realise that medically that is the furthest thing from simple?" Olivia asked with a slight laugh.

"Meh." Olivia shrugged "It's only the prototypes."

"I'm so happy for you, Olivia." Luna expressed.

"Well I couldn't have done it without your help, that's why I'm crediting you as well when I announce it." Olivia informed with a knowing smile.

"What?" Luna gawped "No, I didn't do anything important I just gave you some pointers."

"You taught me how the nanomachines can act with white blood cells, hormones and enzymes. Without you I would've probably ended up making something that would kill a patient." Olivia pointed out "You're getting some credit for this whether you like or not."

"…Thank you." Luna replied timidly.

"Anyway there's something else I need to talk to you about." Olivia changed the subject as well as her facial expression, it was one of worry "I got some intel on Rosethorn robbery from Marian, seems the same thieves just arrived in Zootopia."

"My Nan gave you this intel? Where did she hack into this time?" Luna asked, fully aware of Marian Wilde's alter ego.

"The aviation authority's network, seems like the same plane that the thieves used in Scotland landed in Zootopia yesterday morning." Olivia relayed "These bastards stole all my data and the only working model of the Elixir system and bet my vinyl collection that there in Zootopia to attempt another raid."

"What are you going to do?" Luna asked, guessing that her friend had already formulated a plan.

"Easy I'm going to track the lowlifes, Marian locked onto to one of the thieves' phones so that a certain Metal Vigilante can welcome them to the neighbourhood." Olivia voiced her plan with a little devilment in her voice.

"So I shouldn't be surprised if I hear reports of Spitfire on the TV tonight?" Luna asked rhetorically.

"I could use another pair of paws on this, you sure I can't persuade you to suit up for old times' sake?" Olivia queried cheekily.

"No." Luna said flatly, but her amber eyes looked sorrowful.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Olivia apologised.

"It's ok, I miss the old days to. It's hard to think it's been four years." Luna remembered with a sad smile.

"I just keep imagining that Andraste will make a heroic comeback." Olivia hoped.

"Andraste is dead, the only way I can help folks now is as Dr. Wilde not as some mad vixen with a bow." Luna said, trying to remain positive "Besides with work, hanging out with you and Aleks I've got no time to be a super hero."

"How are things going with tall, grey and handsome?" Olivia probed, hungry for gossip.

"He's so sweet, he had a candle lit dinner ready for me when I got home from my parents' place. I'm thinking of asking him to move in with me." Luna admitted.

"After only three months? Damn it must be love." Olivia joked.

"Well he spends most nights at mine anyway, his apartment is like a shoebox and yeah I do love him." Luna justified, realising how much Aleks meant to her.

"Well before you give him a key you best introduce your Romeo to your parents." Olivia advised

"Do I have to?" Luna whined, the prospect of introducing Aleks as her boyfriend was daunting to say the least.

"What are you going to do? Wait for when you're walking down the aisle with lover boy to say to your parents 'Hey this is your very soon to be son in law'?" Olivia badgered, knowing Luna was avoiding the conversation with her parents.

"Ok, ok." Luna gave in "I'll talk to Aleks later then see if Mom and Dad want to come out to dinner, I'll have to make a nice public restaurant so Dad can't make a scene."

"There you go, I bet it won't be so bad, besides I'm sure your Dad's mellowed a bit by now." Olivia assured, taking out the lollipop from behind her ear and unwrapping it.

"Ugh, I wish." Luna grimaced, picturing her Dad's reaction.

"So what happened with Robyn yesterday? You said something about a fight at her school" Olivia wondered, popping the cherry flavour confection in her mouth.

Luna was about to answer when her phone began to ring, she pulled it out of her suit pocket to see it was in fact her little sister calling "Speak of the devil," Luna commented before answering the call "Hey Robbie."

" _Hey Lu."_ Robyn greeted and instantly the older Wilde sister noticed that the younger was excited about something.

"Everything ok?" Luna asked, pondering whether Robyn had asked out Hannah.

" _So I need a favour, a pretty big one actually."_ Robyn opened.

"Ok shoot." Luna replied.

" _I need you to convince Mom and Dad to unground me for tonight."_ Robyn requested.

Luna wondered why Robyn had asked for such a thing but answered "I can give it a shot, but I'm going to need a reason to give them."

" _I have a date with Hannah that I can't miss."_ Robyn revealed sounding giddy.

"Oh my god!" Luna squealed with joy "Robbie I knew you could do it! Don't you worry I can make it happen."

000

Judy wasn't focusing on her surroundings, the bunny's mind was still on her daughter's brawl the day before, part of her knew that she needed to give her kit space to sort this out on her own but then again her maternal instinct wanted to get to the bottom of the problem so she could protect Robyn from it. She was only brought out of her thoughts when a voice spoke "So in closing; our ZPD overseas recruitment initiative has been a great success and I propose we make it an annual practice." Commissioner Mason Bogo said in his usual deep tone.

"I see no problem with that, how about you Judy?" Mayor Trevor Moon asked for the chief's opinion, the 78 year old wolf looking dapper as ever.

"Y-yeah, the recruits from Europe have been great." Judy answered, caught a little unawares. The three were sat in Judy's office at precinct 1 for their monthly meeting, the formal stuff only took about half an hour so the rest of the time the three friends would just catch up.

"Something wrong Chief Wilde?" Bogo asked, his cop gut telling him something was bothering the rabbit.

"It's just something dumb with my youngest kit." Judy tried to brush off.

"Little Robyn? Why what's wrong with the little firecracker?" Trevor asked, concerned due to knowing the girl since she was born.

"She got in a fight with another girl at school." Bogo answered instead of Judy.

"How'd you know that?" Judy asked instantly.

"Benjamin saw it on furbook, he is the king of gossip after all." Bogo answered, used to his husband's habits "By the sounds of it Robyn handled herself well, you should be proud."

"It's not about the fight, it's about the reason for the fight, she wouldn't tell me or Nick what it was about." Judy complained.

"Didn't you used to do the same at her age?" Trevor theorised.

"Of course I got into fights but it was always for a just reason." Judy stated.

"Then there's no reason to think that Robyn's reason was unjust, she's a lot like you." Bogo countered.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Judy sighed.

The conversation was halted by a rapping on the office door Judy turned and said loudly "Come in."

The door opened slightly before the smiling face of Luna Wilde popped out "Hey Mom." The young doctor greeted brightly.

"Luna," Judy replied, happy to see her daughter "I can't remember the last time you came by the precinct."

"Must've been when I was still chief." Bogo smiled as the vixen walked in.

"My word, I felt old when I got up this morning but seeing you all grown up now makes me feel ancient." Trevor joked as he got to his feet and went over to the young woman.

"Oh Trevor, you're still the most spry and dashing wolf in Zootopia." Luna played along, getting on her tip toes to kiss the wolf on the cheek.

"Flatterer." Trevor replied smugly.

"If I remember correctly the last time you were in this office you pranked me." Bogo remembered, kneeling down to hug Luna.

"Oh yeah," Luna recalled, hugging the big buffalo back "I hid in one of your filing cabinets and frightened you with a Halloween mask while my Dad filmed you."

Judy suppressed a laugh before saying "Then he posted to youtube." 

"Which resulted in him being put on parking duty for a month." Bogo finished sounding victorious.

"How are the twins?" Luna asked, Mason and Benjamin had adopted two jaguar boys six years ago and it turns out both cops were natural fathers who enjoyed every second with their sons.

"Well Arthur is starting karate lessons this week and Alan is obsessed with his latest science project for school, both of them have so much energy me and Benjamin can barely keep up." Bogo gushed like any doting dad would.

"Give them a hug from me will you?" Luna asked happily.

"I'll make sure of it," Bogo acknowledged "right Mayor shall we leave the chief and her daughter to it?"

"I think we shall, goodbye you two." Trevor bid farewell as he walked out of the office.

"Oh Wilde one last thing, I've scheduled a meeting Monday morning with Skye to discuss if the MCB can help with the Spitfire case, can you be at city hall for then?" Bogo asked, unbeknownst to both high ranking officers Luna froze and started to scream internally at the mention of Spitfire, the very vigilante Luna was best friends with.

"Sure thing, I'd love her opinion on this case." Judy complied with a nod to which the commissioner nodded back before closing the door and leaving the mother and daughter alone.

"Did he just say Spitfire? I thought that was some silly urban legend." Luna questioned, acting casual and unbelieving.

"No it's true the ZPD has opened a case file on this 'Spitfire' character, some security footage was passed onto us from City Hall, this legend is very much real." Judy informed "Never mind all that, what brings you here? Is everything ok?"

"Don't worry nothing's wrong," Luna eased her mom's nerves "I have a proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?" Judy asked in return with an arched eyebrow.

"I will give you the juiciest bit of news regarding my romantic life in exchange for a favour." Luna offered, flashing a smile reminiscent of Nick.

"Romantic life?! You have a boyfriend?" Judy yipped with glee, clapping her paws together.

"I'm not saying another word until you grant my favour." Luna bartered.

"Name it." Judy responded, literally bouncing up and down with anticipation.

"I need you and Dad to unground Robyn for one night so she can go on a date." Luna informed.

"Robyn's got a date?! With who?" Judy gasped, overjoyed that both her girls were being courted.

"You'll find out tonight when her date picks her up at 7pm, they'll be back home by 10.30 I guarantee it, do we have a deal?" Luna baited, noticing the excited look in her mom's eyes.

"Deal!" Judy said way too loudly and way too quickly "Now tell me about this guy your dating."

Luna's mind filled with images of Aleks as she smiled "Well he's a fox, no surprise there. He's softly spoken and sweet, such a gentlemammal and…I can't believe I'm telling you this but I think, you know, he might be the one."

"Oh sweetie." Judy reacted with sincerity, her paws taking hold of the vixen's.

"I want you, Dad and Luna to meet him this weekend, I was thinking we could all go to a nice restaurant in the rainforest district together…just please try and reign in Dad, you know how he can get." Luna gave her concerns, she really wanted the first impression to go well.

"Let me deal with your father, tell Robyn she can have her date too." Judy promised.

"Thanks mom, I'll text her now. You're the best." Luna replied, kissing her mom on the cheek before leaving the very happy bunny in her office to run the precinct.

Luna was hallway to the parking lot and had already text her sister telling her the good news when she spotted someone very familiar to her across the foyer. He was slim built fox with silver fur in his early twenties with a pair of gentle but focused eyes framed by a pair of designer glasses, he was obviously a SWAT officer owed to the fact that he wore combat trousers and a black ZPD t shirt which body armour could cover over easily. This fox was Aleks Rojek, precinct 1's latest recruit and the mammal who had a hold on Luna's heart and his heart belonged to her. Luna was about to walk over to him when she spotted someone else approaching her boyfriend.

"Rojek." Nick Wilde called out, holding a mug of coffee. Luna saw her dad and made a quick escape to the stairwell to avoid any awkwardness.

Aleks turned to the source of the voice and as soon as he saw a superior officer was addressing him he stood up straight, saluted Nick and replied with a clear "Captain."

"Easy with the saluting rookie," Nick laughed off "you ain't in the academy anymore."

"My apologies sir, your customs are still a little strange to me." Aleks reacted, he spoke perfect English but his Polish accent was clear to hear.

"Don't worry you'll get used to us crazy Americans soon enough." Nick grinned "Anyway I didn't get to compliment you yesterday."

"Compliment, sir?" Aleks asked, unsure of what his captain meant.

"The way you handle yourself during that drug raid yesterday, you kept a level head and were always looking out for your fellow officers." Nick praised "I've seen so many newbie SWAT officers go into a raid and be trigger happy but not you, I like that."

"We're handling weapons that can kill Captain, to use a gun so recklessly would be betraying the badge." Aleks explained, pointing at Nick's shield on his breast pocket.

"Damn your just like Carrots when she was a newbie." Nick chuckled.

"Carrots, sir?" Aleks queried.

"Chief Wilde, when we first met she sounded exactly like you, you keep being you Rojek and you'll go far." Nick smiled, patting the younger fox on the shoulder before walking up the stairs to his wife's office, leaving the worried Aleks wondering how Nick would react to him dating Luna.

000

Nick's good mood did not last, as soon as he went to see Judy to discuss some cases his overly jubilant wife had dropped not one but two bombshells; that Robyn was going on a date tonight with a unknown boy and Luna was currently dating some mysterious guy. It irked Nick that Judy was so happy for the girls when all Nick felt was dread, dread that his two baby girls were about to have their hearts broken by two callous and despicable boys, he knew these unknown dates were after one thing because it was the same thing he was after at that age. He always wondered why the fathers of all the girls he dated as a young fox were so apprehensive of him but now he knew he didn't want his daughters getting hurt it any shape or form. Now Judy had given Nick a firm warning about not going into his 'Nightmare Dad' mode, not to threaten the suitors, not to do a background check on them (Which he couldn't seeing as the girls had very cleverly not revealed their names) and under no circumstances was he to wave his tranq pistol in their faces to intimidate them. It was bad enough for Nick when Luna graduated high school early just after her 15th birthday due to her gifted intelligence, she was too young to move into college dorms so he thought Luna would avoid the sleazy college frat boys which thankfully Luna never socialized with, but soon enough she managed to find foxes her own age and instigated relationships, Luna was confident and beautiful it was easy for her to ensnare a date, it was Nick's worst nightmare.

At this moment in time Nick was preparing a thai prawn curry for him and Judy to eat when Luna entered through the front door using her spare key, carrying a large bag from Furever 21 and wearing an elated look on her face "Hey Dad." She said, closing the door.

"Kiddo," Nick gave a half assed smile "what's with the bags?"

"These are for Robyn, so she'll look even more beautiful for her date." Luna answered, clocking onto her father's lame attempt at being gleeful.

"Oh…" Nick sounded "So who is this guy that's taking Robyn out on the town?"

"No comment." Luna smirked as she made her way down the hallway to her sister's room.

"Crap." Nick mumbled to him-self, he looked at his watch Judy said she was going to put a couple of hours at the gym so she might not be back when Robyn's date arrives "Screw it." Nick said, setting down the chilli peppers he was slicing and heading to his room to get his bow, arrows and his baseball bat. Judy told him not to threaten Robyn's date but she didn't say that he couldn't show off his weapons.

Meanwhile Luna opened the door to Robyn's bedroom "Hey I got you a surprise!" she announced holding up the bag.

Robyn who was lying on her bed reading a chapter of 'Lord of the Flies' for her literature class "What kind of surprise?" Robyn asked looking at her sister with suspicion.

"Ok don't freak out," Luna answered grinning like a Cheshire cat as she pulled out an eggshell blue dress with thin straps "I got you a dress! It'll go great with your fur colour."

Robyn's eyes bulged at the dress, it was a pretty dress to be sure, but a dress all the same and Robyn detested wearing them "There is no way I'm wearing that!" Robyn defied, standing up, mortified that her sister was attempting to make her more fashionable.

Luna had expected this reaction but was undeterred "C'mon you'll look gorgeous." She tried to sway her sister.

Robyn crossed her arms and stated "Not happening."

Luna then locked the bedroom door and sniggered devilishly "Yes you are."

Five minutes later Robyn was stood up defeated, feeling like a fool and clothed in the dress, which she did look amazing in. Luna had a face of pure smugness as she got out a make up bag and held up some mascara "Now for some mascara." She grinned.

"You touch me with that I'll break your arm." Robyn threatened, her face like thunder.

"Oh don't pout." Luna responded.

"I appreciate all this Lu," Robyn sighed "but I was just going to go in some jeans and a t shirt."

"You're telling me that you have a date with the girl of your dreams and you're going to dress like every other day?" Luna asked in a judging tone.

"Well yeah, let my natural beauty do all the work." Robyn replied.

"Don't you think Hannah's going to make an effort and dress up?" Luna pressured.

"…I guess." Robyn conceded.

"So are you going to let me do this?" Luna asked, holding up the mascara pen.

After a few seconds Robyn let out a quiet "Fine."

Back in the open plan living room/kitchen Nick had placed his high tech bow and an assortment of arrows on the table so they were clear to see, Nick looked at the time on his phone it was nearly 7pm and Robyn's date would be here at any moment. "Little punk, coming to take my baby out." Nick quietly growled to himself, holding onto his baseball bat. "I'll take him out with this if he tries anything." The over protective dad was considering calling in a favour with Jack or Finnick to see if they could track this Casanova in the Sapphire Quarter. Just then a knock at the front door came dragging Nick from his plotting, Nick gripped the bat tighter as he went to the door and opened with his spare paw. He opened the door wearing a stern face but it vanished as soon as he saw who was standing there, it was his goddaughter Hannah Savage wearing an expensive looking black dress coupled with her signature kind smile, in her paws was a bouquet of pink peonies that looked like they came straight from the florists. "Hannah?" Nick asked, still not figuring it out.

"Hi Nick," Hannah replied before looking at the baseball bat and asking "you off to the batting cages?"

"Oh this," Nick replied, a tad embarrassed, he leant the bat against the wall "it's nothing. Come in."

"Thanks," Hannah said, walking and noticing the bow and arrows on the table "sorting out your archery equipment huh? My Mom goes mental when Dad does that in our kitchen."

"Uh, yeah. I was just tuning up my bow." Nick lied but he had to ask "So is this a double date thing with Robyn or something?"

Hannah stopped herself from laughing at her oblivious godfather and answered "Not exactly."

In that second Judy, dressed in her gym gear, bounded through the open doorway and greeted "Hi." But was not expecting to see Hannah holding flowers "Oh Hannah, what are you doing here?"

"Well…" Hannah began but ceased talking when a jittery Robyn appeared from the hallway with an excited looking Luna behind her.

"H-hey." Robyn stammered, her nerves wracking and feeling like an idiot in this dress.

Hannah's aqua blue eyes absorbed the beauty Robyn that was radiating from her right now, if Hannah was smitten before she was definitely hooked now "You look beautiful." Hannah breathed.

"Thanks you look amazing too." Robyn replied with shyness.

Hannah took a step forward and handed Robyn the bunch of peonies "I got you these, you always said they were your favourite." She charmed.

"Thank you." Robyn smiled, touched by the sweet gesture. _Now or never Wilde_ she mentally rallied before biting the bullet, leaning in and kissing her girlfriend on the lips, she pulled back to see a pair of flummoxed faces on her parents, she then nervously added "I think you already know my girlfriend."

(AN/ How will Nick and Judy react!? What did you guys think!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star of Ceartais Robyn and Hannah go on their first date, we catch up with Spitfire and the MM gang and tragedy strikes Zootopia. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	4. We all fall down

(An/ Hey guys it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais, I'm posting this early due to a family emergency and I won't be available tomorrow so thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the fic so far, thank you for the overwhelming support. A big shout out to helthehatter who has kindly let me use her OCs Kodi, Sasha and Wade, who are in this chapter and the next. Thank you to everyone has supported me in regards to the cyberbully/troll Mafiaguy2017 and thank you to all my friends have helped me out during this difficult time with my family. If you want to ask any questions about this fic, you can reach me on my tumblr Crewefox where there is a ask box and a load of art for this fic.)

 **Chapter 3 – We all fall down**

Hannah took a step forward and handed Robyn the bunch of peonies "I got you these, you always said they were your favourite." She charmed.

"Thank you." Robyn smiled, touched by the sweet gesture. _Now or never Wilde_ she mentally rallied before biting the bullet, leaning in and kissing her girlfriend on the lips, she pulled back to see a pair of flummoxed faces on her parents, she then nervously added "I think you already know my girlfriend."

Judy was the first to muster a word "Girlfriend…" she whispered with her amethyst eyes bulging.

"I think we might've broke them." Hannah muttered to Robyn.

Nick looked the most surprised, he was expecting some little bratty teenage boy to come take Robyn out, instead his daughter's date was none other than his goddaughter. The cogs in Nick's head were turning with haste as he tried to process what was going on _Robyn and Hannah are dating? Since when? I mean I knew Hannah was gay but Robyn? Was she afraid to tell me and Judy? Why? We would've understood…but now she's dating Hannah….wait a sec this is perfect! Hannah is wonderful kid, she'd never take advantage or hurt my baby, I love Hannah like a niece already! Hannah's the perfect girlfriend for Robyn! Ok, Nick play it cool, be supportive, don't act overexcited just tell them to have a nice time and be back by 10.30_ Nick cleared his throat before giving his regular suave smile "Keep an eye on her Hannah and have her back at 10.30, oh and have fun."

Robyn's look of trepidation evaporated at these words, she had half expected her father to do his typical nightmare dad act but he accepted Hannah with no hint of anger. And he had no problem with her being in a relationship with a girl, she knew her dad held no prejudices when it came to sexuality but it was still a feeling of relief to know that her dad had no objections. Robyn's eyes then turned to her mother to see an overly hyped smile had appeared on her face, her right foot was thumping with excitement and looked like she was about burst with joy at any second. "Oh no." Robyn mumbled just before Judy rushed over to Hannah and grabbed both of her paws.

"You two are so cute together!" Judy squealed "How long have you two being going out? Who asked out who? Are you two in love?"

"Mom!" Robyn barked, aghast with embarrassment.

"Alright sweetheart, cool your jets, just let them enjoy their date." Nick willed, putting a gentle paw on Judy's shoulder to guide her away.

"Thanks Dad." Robyn said in appreciation before turning to Luna and passing her the flowers "Can you put these in water?"

"Sure," Luna replied taking the bouquet "now go and paint the town red you two."

Robyn didn't need telling twice, she took a hold of Hannah's hand and led her out the door before her mother could embarrass her even more. Luna scurried over to the front door and closed it so Judy couldn't shout embarrassing things down the hall. "I got to say Dad that was really nice of you," Luna commented "you didn't get in Hannah's face or anything."

"She's a good kid." Nick replied, maintaining his relaxed demeanour "I was a little caught off guard with Robyn being a lesbian though."

"She's bisexual." Luna corrected, taking an empty vase from the kitchen table.

"Hold up," Judy spoke up "you knew?"

"Yep, I found out yesterday. That was what the fight about; that deer was talking crap about Hannah." Luna explained putting the pink flowers in the vase before heading to the sink to fill it with a little water.

"Aww it must be love." Judy cooed.

"How'd do you figure that?" Nick asked his sly bunny.

"Isn't it obvious? She was willing to fight to defend Hannah's honour, even getting detention, being sent home from school and getting grounded by us didn't phase her. Our baby's in love!" Judy gushed as she got out her phone and started texting at top speed.

"Who are you texting?" Luna asked with a giggle, loving how excited her mom was.

"Skye, I want to know if she knows our daughters are a couple." Judy answered, not taking her eyes off the phone screen.

000

Nala Priderock was not a good cook, never had been and never will be, the forty three old police lieutenant left the cooking and household chores to her husband Simba who's only worry was the web designing business he ran from his home office. But today Nala had been determined to cook something because her eldest child, Kiara, was home from Germany where the young soldier had been stationed since her twenty first birthday. Sure Kiara would come home for a week every few months but now her little girl was going to be home for six weeks working at the local barracks just outside the city so Nala wanted to make her feel at home. The cop had decided to make turkey meatballs and spaghetti, a simple recipe to be sure but we're talking about a mammal who could only make a grilled cheese sandwich. The turkey meatballs were so burnt they looked like lumps of coal, the sauce was so watery it was like tomato juice and the spaghetti had been left in the pan so long that all the water had evaporated and the pasta had been burnt. Nala looked at the almighty mess she had made in the kitchen and let out a groan of defeat "I suck at this."

"Dad is going to lose it when he sees what've you've done to his kitchen." Kion commented, standing beside his mother, he was over a foot and half taller than her.

"Thanks for your comforting words." Nala pouted, Simba was picking up a couple of bottles of wine for the meal and would be home momentarily.

"Is something burning?" A concerned voice asked from the hallway, the smell of burnt meat had filled the suburban home. Kiara walked into the kitchen and looked at the state of the kitchen and added "Dad is going to be so pissed."

"I know..." Nala said, pitying herself "I just wanted to do something nice for you coming home."

Kiara, who was wearing a green blouse and black pants, went over to her terrible cook of a mother and put an arm around her "Mom, you didn't have to, thank you for doing this but the only thing I want is to enjoy these six weeks back home with my family and friends."

"You always were easily pleased." Nala let a smile escape her lips.

"Meh, I'm a simple lioness with simple needs." Kiara agreed.

"So should we order Pizza or Indian food?" Kion asked leaning on the counter, there was no way he was eating the disaster before him.

"I haven't Indian food in forever." Kiara replied, already trying to figure out what dish she wanted.

Suddenly a message tone rang out through the kitchen, Kiara had left her phone charging on the kitchen counter which Kion was leaning upon. Kion unplugged the phone and was about to toss it to his sister but his eyes glanced across the screen and saw '1 new message from Ray' but a simple pink heart was beside the name causing Kion to innocently say "It's a text from your boyfriend." Before throwing the phone to his sister.

Kiara's face screwed up and glowered "Thanks jerk." As she caught the phone, she was trying to keep her latest flame a secret.

"You're seeing someone?" Nala asked with a knowing grin.

"…Yes." Kiara admitted begrudgingly, promptly going over to her taller but younger brother and swatting him around the head.

"What?" Kion sounded, rubbing the spot where Kiara had struck.

"So you going to tell us about him?" Nala questioned.

"When Dad get's back." Kiara held off.

"Oh come on, give me something." Nala wrangled.

"Fine his name is Ray and he's with the RAF." Kiara revealed concisely.

"RAF?" Kion queried, unsure of the acronym.

"Royal Air Force, he's British." Kiara cleared up.

"Well check you out snagging yourself a British guy, so what species is he?" Nala asked sounding nosey, fully aware of her daughter being an inter.

But before the soldier could answer her phone began to ring, she read her screen and her face grew serious, she put the phone to her ear "Sir?...Now?...But Sir this is the first night back with my family…I understand, I'll be there." Kiara ended the call sounding disappointed.

Nala gave a look of understanding and guessed "They calling you into work?"

"Mom I'm so sorry, my CO can be an ass." Kiara explained sheepishly, grabbing her car keys from the hook by the back door.

"Go, it's ok. You're here for weeks, besides your Dad can cook you something really nice tomorrow." Nala assured as Kiara rushed out the back door.

"Thanks Mom, I love you." Kiara shouted back as she raced to her car. Nala and Kion stood at the door watching Kiara as she backed out her car from the driveway, none of them knowing that this night would tear the family apart.

000

The old Mother of Mercy church in Sherwood looked pretty boring from the outside, the building itself was no longer used as a church ever since a bigger and newer one had been built a few streets away, the community garden had been left to be overgrown with weeds and officially the retired place of worship was now a place to store files for Dawson Tech who had bought the building a few years ago. The now passed away Father Eustice Tuck had let the MM gang use the crypt below the church as their base back in the day, and in fact they never moved out even after they had retired, the MM gang were still determined to help Zootopia, even if it was on the side-lines. "Tea, my love?" Robin asked, the sixty five year old fox walking over to his wife with a fresh pot of earl grey.

"Of course," Marian replied, holding up her empty china cup while looking at a trio of computer monitors "so do you think the thieves will hit anywhere?"

"Well speaking as a thief myself, one must never pass up the opportunity of a score." Robin answered, carefully pouring the tea into the cup.

Marian nodded, she looked at the monitors with a slightly worried look on her greying muzzle. She had indeed tracked one of the unknown thieves' phones and it had been hanging around the industrial area of the Canal District for nearly 24 hours, these guys were waiting for something the question was; what? It couldn't be Olivia's new prototypes seeing as the billionaire mouse owned no buildings in the district, the worrying though was the thief was near to a munitions factory so whatever they were going to steal it was guaranteed to pack a punch. "Just what are you after?" Marian mused, sipping her tea.

"It doesn't matter what they're after, all that matters is that we catch them in the act and hand them over to the cops." A voice responded.

The old couple turned their attention to Olivia who was stood on the shoulder of an imposing metal figure, tinkering with the circuits in the neck. "Aren't you a little curious?" Robin asked the vigilante.

"Not really, weapons don't really interest me." Olivia answered, still working on her favourite creation; Spitfire, the mech suit she used in her battle with the nefarious criminals of the city. Height wise it was just taller than a wolf, the green coloured armour was bulletproof and could withstand most explosions, it's unique metallic exoskeleton resembled a beetle along with the head which was really only used to house a twin set of lasers in the eyes that could through the toughest metals, the arms that were capable of lifting nearly fifty times it weight also contained dozens of tranq darts that could be fired at high speed as well as a mini missile for those big obstacles and the fists could electrify to stun enemies, and to top it all off this baby could fly using thrusters on the back and the bottom of the feet with the flexible tail working as a stabilizer.

"Says the mad scientist who's tinkering with a massive killer robot." Marian joked.

"Touché." Olvia accepted, chewing on some super sweet bubble-gum.

"Hey," Robin alerted looking back at the gps on the thief's phone "that guys on the move."

Marian snapped her attention back to the screen and moaned "Damn I was right, they are targeting the munitions plant."

"Time for me to suit up." Olivia grinned before blowing a bubble with her gum.

000

Robyn and Hannah got a cab to Sahara Square, the pair of them casually chatting as the driver took them to the ritzy Sapphire Quarter of the district. Like Tundra Town, Sahara Square was a coastal part of the city but unlike the snow covered pebble beaches of Tundra Town it's desert like neighbour could make money out of it pristine sandy shores as a beach resort with the Sapphire Quarter being the fanciest of these resorts well known for it's night life and highly praised restaurants. As soon as the taxi reached the promenade Robyn reached into her purse, that Luna had bought for her to go with her dress, to pay for the fare to be met with a wad of twenty dollar bills which was easily over four hundred dollars, Robyn quickly handed the driver two twenties and told him to keep the change as they exited the car. "Where the hell did this money come from?" Robyn asked herself, rummaging through her purse to find a note scrawled by her big sister 'Here's some cash for your meal and other stuff, my treat. Spoil Hannah and make her feel like she's the most important girl in the world- Luna'

"A fifteen dollar tip? You are generous." Hannah commented.

Robyn stuffed the note back into her purse and fibbed "I guess."

"So here I am with a beautiful girl in the nicest part of the city, whatever am I going to do next?" Hannah played, despite being a hybrid her more vulpine features helped her in the charms department.

"Well Miss Savage, if I may be so bold," Robyn hammed up in a theatrical manner, taking hold of her paw "I have booked us a table at the finest Japanese place in Zootopia right on the beach but we have some time to kill so do you wanna' look around the promenade for now?"

"That sounds lovely." Hannah complied, kissing her sweetheart on her speckled cheek.

Robyn couldn't help but grin like an idiot as they began to walk down the busy promenade "I don't think I'm ever to get sick of that."

"Glad to hear it, and I don't think I'll ever forget how beautiful look in that dress." Hannah flirted, the sun had just set and the soft lights of the shops and amusements added to the warm atmosphere of the setting.

"I look stupid in this thing, Luna made me wear it." Robyn contested, sounding shy.

"Are you kidding? You look breath taking." Hannah disputed, her eyes taking in every detail of her date.

"Cut it out." Robyn replied, the pink skin of her ears turning red.

"Alluring." Hannah added with a deliberately sultry voice.

"Stop." Robyn reacted, becoming more sheepish.

Hannah then leaned in and whispered teasingly in Robyn's ear "Sexy."

"Hannah!" Robyn gasped, feeling flattered and mortified at the same time.

"You're so easy to tease, I couldn't help myself." Hannah chuckled at her flustered girlfriend.

Luckily for Robyn a distraction came in the form of an old buck moose manning a shooting gallery game "Aww what a lovely couple, say there Missy in the black dress wanna' win a prize for your girlfriend?"

"Me?" Hannah asked the Moose.

"Yeah, you get ten shots to hit as many targets as you can." The Moose explained, motioning towards the game with multiple targets moving around and a simple air rifle chained to the counter.

"Sounds simple enough." Hannah replied, taking out two dollars and passing it to the Moose.

"Ooh you're confident, let see what you got." The Moose laughed, passing Hannah a small tin with ten BBs in it.

"This should be good." Robyn smiled to herself, fully in the knowledge that Hannah was skilled with guns.

Hannah finished loading the air rifle and with ease hit target after target knocking them all down with little difficulty and a loud metallic ping, when the tenth shot was fired and the final target fell Hannah spun the rifle in a very military style before placing back on the counter. "Well I be…" The Moose gave an overjoyed look and cackle "Now that's a first, ten for ten! Congratulations Missy, your girlfriend can pick any prize she wants." The Moose then pointed to the large plushie dinosaur toys that were as big as the girls.

"Go ahead Robyn." Hannah encouraged, feeling proud of her prowess.

"Let me see," Robyn said, walking over to the wide selection of dinosaur themed prizes, she ignored the large soft toys and picked up a simple keyring with a tiny plastic T Rex "I'll take this little guy."

"Really?" Hannah and the Moose vendor asked in unison.

"Sure, you see if I take one of those big Triceratops or Diplodocuses I'll have to keep them in my bedroom but if I take this keyring I'll always be reminded of this night wherever I go." Robyn reasoned, knowing this would help woo Hannah further.

If it was possible for a mammal with white fur to blush Hannah would be doing right now, the old Moose saw the expression on the teenager's face and chuckled "Miss I think you may be swooning, take it from an old fart like me, she's a keeper."

"You hear that Hannah? I'm a keeper." Robyn bantered, twirling the keyring on her index finger.

"Alright, don't get a big head." Hannah responded, hugging onto her belle's arm "Let's get some dinner."

"Ok Miss Sharpshooter, let's eat." Robyn said, leading the way back down the promenade leaving the very content Moose happy that he had made one couple's night just a little more special.

"That shooting gallery wasn't much of a challenge." Hannah stated, still hugging onto Robyn's arm.

"Well you have got medals in competitive shooting." Robyn pointed out, savouring the closeness with her date.

"I'm a better dancer than a markswoman." Hannah credited herself.

Within five minutes they were outside an elegant restaurant beside the beach named 'Yagami's', both the inside of the building and the tables outside seemed packed with each mammal being dressed in the finest of clothes causing Robyn to feel a little nervous as she approached the female Tanuki Maître D at the entrance to the restaurant. "Um, Hi we have a reservation for 8pm." Robyn opened.

"Of course, what name?" The Tanuki asked back in a friendly manner.

"Wilde." Robyn answered.

The Tanuki tensed up at the mention of this name and carefully asked "Are you the sister of Dr. Wilde?"

"Yeah, she's my big sister." Robyn answered, trying to figure out why such a question would be asked.

Out of the blue the Tanuki Maître D clapped her paws together and a brace of waiters appeared within seconds "Give these young ladies our finest table and make sure they want for nothing."

"Um, that's nice of you but can we ask why?" Hannah inquired.

"Dr. Wilde and her friends are regular customers here, she phoned and told us you two were coming." The Maître D answered with her most welcoming tone.

"Typical Luna." Robyn mumbled, her big sister was well known for splashing the cash. Hannah and Robyn were led through the outside part of the dining area and to a table that faced the ocean, decorated with candles and sweet smelling flowers from east Asia.

"Wow." Hannah said, taking in the very romantic scene. The waiters pulled out the chairs for the pair and they both sat down.

"Now ladies if I may be so bold can I suggest a sushi platter to share to start, it's a favourite for mammals on a date." The Waiter, a black wooled ram, offered.

"Sounds delicious," Robyn commented before looking at Hannah "that ok with you?"

"Go for it." Hannah nodded to the waiter, who gave a small bow before heading inside to fetch their food.

The second waiter, a slim cougar then followed with "Can I get you two a drink? We have a wide selection of non alcoholic cocktails."

"What do you recommend?" Robyn asked back, having no idea about cocktails.

"Well our Beach Blast is very popular it's comprised of mango, passion fruit and blood orange, shall I get you a couple of those?" The cougar suggested.

"Yes please." Hannah answered knowing Robyn loved anything with mango in it. Hannah set her purse down on the table and noticed her date staring at her with a dreamy look.

"You alright there?" Hannah questioned, trying not to giggle.

"I just can't believe this night is happening," Robyn answered, her paw reaching over and placing her paw atop of Hannah's "I've lost count of how many times I've wished for a moment like this."

"I can relate, the amount of occasions I've caught myself daydreaming about you is more than I want to admit." Hannah confided, gazing at her girlfriend.

"You said this morning I was your first crush," Robyn connected "when did you, y'know, realise you liked me?"

"It was back when we were eleven, back when I was getting bullied," Hannah confessed "it was time those kids in my class put a carrot on my desk with a note 'Do you eat these or rabbits, freak!' remember?"

"I remember finding out who put that carrot on your desk and kicking their ass." Robyn replied with a fire in her voice.

"What sticks out in my mind was when you found me crying beside the bike shed, you didn't say a word you just hugged me until I stopped sobbing, I felt so safe in your arms., the softness of your fur, the way you smelt, I even peeked a few looks at your face. That's when I realised I wanted to kiss you." Hannah admitted, her voice warm with the memory before adding "Hell that was so corny."

"I like corny you, don't ever change." Robyn replied with sincerity "So do your parents know I'm your date tonight?"

"No, I was sure your mom would break the news as soon as we left your apartment. I just told them during shooting practice that I had a date in Sapphire Quarter and they said it was ok as long as I was home before eleven." Hannah explained.

"Shooting practice?" Robyn enquired.

"Yeah, my Mom got a firing range put in the back garden last week, me and Mom practice with our pistols and Dad with his bow when we all get home, we talk and unwind, it's our weird thing." Hannah revealed.

Just then the two waiters returned with the exquisite sushi platter and two large fruity virgin cocktails both the colour of blazing sunset and set them on the table, both servers bowed and hastily scurried away as not to interrupt the young couple's special night. Robyn saw the freshly prepared feast and went to pick up a piece of sushi with her bare paws when Hannah cut in "What are you doing?"

"Grabbing some sushi." Robyn answered, not really bothered whether or not it was the right etiquette.

"Silly," Hannah tittered, holding up some chopsticks "you're supposed to use these."

"I'm terrible with those things, using my paws is way easier." Robyn justified.

"Tut, tut Miss Wilde, we are in a sophisticated Japanese restaurant and we must abide by the customs," Hannah mockingly sighed, clicking her pair of chopsticks together "I guess I have no choice but to feed you myself."

Robyn thought about this for a moment, it was a very forward and romantic thing for Hannah to offer, the red furred girl debated whether or not to refuse her but then she figured 'Why the hell not?' she had come this far in confessing and asking out the beauty before her, there was no way she wasn't going to embrace every precious second of it. Robyn leaned over and opened her mouth. Hannah gave a sure grin before retrieving a piece of sushi with her chopsticks and placing gently it in her girlfriend's jaws, all the while their eyes were locked with an infatuated look that neither of them could shake, this look was a unspoken promise that the pair of them were going to have a great time together.

000

"Impossible." A well dressed she-wolf with brown fur laughed, she holding a half full champagne flute in her hand.

"You don't believe me?" Kodi asked, feigning pain as he held up an empty soda bottle in one paw and a penny in the other. The two lupines were stood in a glitzy art gallery with dozens of mammals around admiring the photography exhibit in the Tundra Town art gallery.

"There's no way you can get that penny in through the bottom of the bottle." The she-wolf stated, her face still happy.

"Fine but when I do you're going to have to give me your number." Kodi proposed, twitching his eyebrows.

"You're on magic man." The she-wolf accepted.

"Ok watch closely now, 3,2,1," Kodi instructed before slamming the penny into the bottom of the glass bottle and it appearing within the bottle in an instant "and there you go, the classic penny in a bottle trick, Crafty Kodi strikes again."

"Wow!? How did you do that?" The She-Wolf gawped, taking the soda bottle from Kodi to check for any trickery.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." Kodi said smugly "So I think I've won our litter wager, I guess you owe me your number."

"You won fair and square, so here it is; 216." The She-Wolf replied.

"That's way too short for a phone number." Kodi pointed out.

"It's my room number for the hotel across the street, we could head over there now and you could show me more of your magic." The She-Wolf proposed with a seductive voice.

A huge smile grew on Kodi's face as he replied in a cool manner "You want be my glamourous assistant?"

Just then a large black paw landed on Kodi's shoulder, he knew it was and cursed his luck as he turned to see a wolf in his early forties with jet black fur dressed in black suit with a red shirt and matching red tie. "I should've known." Wade Jones griped, giving a disapproving look to his son.

"Is he a friend of yours?" The She-Wolf asked Kodi.

"I'm sorry Ma'am but my **fifteen** year old son can be quite the trickster." Wade apologised to the female, making sure to emphasise his son's age.

"Fifteen!? You said you were nineteen!" The She-Wolf snarled quietly.

"Uh…." Kodi had no idea how to respond getting caught out.

"Asshole." The She-Wolf snapped before marching off.

"What the hell Dad? I was in there!" Kodi protested.

"If you had slept with that woman you would've made her a criminal, and having sex with a minor is classed as statuary rape in Zootopia." Wade answered, his disappointment clear on his face "Would it be worth ruining her life just so you could get some action?"

"…No." Kodi admitted.

"Look Kodi, I love you but sometimes you think about she-wolves a little too much." Wade branched "And it's your sister's big night, can you reign it in for her sake?"

"…I guess." Kodi muttered, sheepishly. "I did stick around to see her get her prize though."

"That's not the point you should be focusing on your sister's achievement. Plus you need to respect females more, a she-wolf is not a conquest." Wade added, wondering how he and son could be so different, sure Kodi was adopted but Wade and Gazelle had been a part of his life since he was a toddler and none of his personality had rubbed off on him, then again he was flirty and confident like Gazelle so maybe he took after his adoptive mother.

"Hey I respect girls, Robyn and Hannah are girls and love them in a totally platonic way." Kodi countered, taking a fresh bottle of cola from a waiter carrying around a tray.

"That's only because you're not an inter," Wade shot down "you're just lucky your mother didn't catch you."

"I didn't catch what?" A curious voice asked behind them. Kodi's ears went flat against his skull upon hearing the smooth Argentinian voice, her turned around to see his mother Gazelle. Despite being in her forties the pop star still looked as glamourous and graceful like she was when she first hit the charts, years of singing and dancing had kept her fit resulting in her ageing extremely well, she was garbed in a dark red dress and was holding a glass of champagne whilst giving Kodi an intimidating stare.

"Nothing Mama." Kodi dodged.

"Likely story." Another voice entered, this one coming from Sasha Jones, the youngest member of the family at thirteen. The short teen was the same species as her adoptive mother but was considerably shorter and had much smaller horns, the girl was hoping for a growth spurt so she could stop being mistaken for a ten year old, she was dressed in a green floral dress and had a digital SLR camera hanging from a strap around her neck that she rarely seen without.

"Mijo, you weren't trying to snag another she-wolf's heart were you?" Gazelle asked in a typical mom manner.

"Of course not, I was just chatting with Dad." Kodi lied, safe in the knowledge his old man wouldn't snitch on him.

Gazelle then slapped him on the arm and berated in Spanish "That's for lying, I saw you doing that penny in the bottle trick from across the gallery."

"You need some new tricks big brother." Sasha commented in her mother's language whilst taking some photos of the event.

"I'm sorry Mama, it won't happen again." Kodi grovelled in Spanish, never knowing the reason why his Mom always told him off in her native tongue.

"And yet again I have no idea what you three are saying." Wade huffed, only having learnt basic Spanish phrases.

Kodi then changed the subject to save his mom dwelling on the issue, he looked to his sister and said with a happy tone "So how does it feel to be the best young photographer in Zootopia sis?"

"…Werid." Sasha answered timidly "I shouldn't have won, everyone else's photos were better."

"Don't talk like that little one." Wade interjected "You won for a reason."

"Your Dad's right Princesa, your photos were beautiful." Gazelle added.

Kodi put a comforting arm around his little sister and said truthfully "I'm so proud of you and don't you ever think for a second that you aren't good enough, one day every mammal in this city is going to know your name."

"…Thanks Kodi." Sasha smiled shyly, her older brother was always so supportive of her.

Then it happened…

The first thing everyone noticed was the sound of champagne flutes smashing onto the marble flooring, then whole building groaned and swayed as the ground began to shake, then someone shouted "EARTHQUAKE!", the glass roof of the art gallery shattered into a rain of daggers, Kodi instinctively pulled his sister close and shielded her just like Wade did with Gazelle, Kodi's survival senses kicked into gear with smell being the most prominent for wolves and all that filled his nostrils was the scent of blood.

000

The distance from the church hideout in Sherwood to the industrial sector of the Canal District it was just over fifteen miles but luckily for Olivia her Spitfire mech suit could fly at a speed of 100mph with very little noise. The mouse was in cockpit situated in the chest cavity of the mech, a neural link helmet coupled with an interface suit made it possible for her to control Spitfire's movement with her centre of gravity being assisted by a mechanical harness that wrapped around Olivia's chest and waist. Spitfire was designed to work only for Olivia and the neural link helmet was the key, without her brain the mech would not work, the neural link also helped with the weapons system for example if she thought 'Tranq dart' the mech would arm it's twin high powered dart guns in the arms. Olivia was just over half mile from the munitions plant and reduced her speed as she soared through the night sky "Spitfire to Maid, I've got eyes on the plant." Olivia spoke into her comm.

" **Copy that Spitfire,"** Marian replied over the radio **"it seems that phone we were tracking is just outside the plant in a van, looks like he's part of an extraction team."**

"So the real thief might be already in the plant?" Olivia asked, but as soon as she asked this she saw flashes of gun fire coming from the loading bay of the munitions factory "I think the security guards have found the thief."

" **Should we abort the mission? No doubt they've called the cops by now."** Robin reasoned over the radio.

"No, those guards are using actual bullets, those are illegal for security companies to use, something's amiss here." Olivia informed as she flew in closer look, it was obvious to see that this was a very one sided affair, the munitions factory's security team numbered six emptying magazine after magazine into concrete blocks while only one thief hid behind the blocks, clad in a black tactical suit and balaclava. "I need to save this raider."

" **But they stole from you!"** Robin blasted.

"I need to know why they stole my elixir tech, if I know that maybe I can stop it getting into the wrong hands." Olivia justified "I'm going in, oo-di-lally."

" **Oo-di-lally."** Robin and Marian replied on instinct.

Spitfire landed between the security team and the unknown thief, the bullets pinged off the mech's armour with ease but the fools kept on firing thinking that Spitfire was an ally of the thief. Olivia used her thermal imaging to target all six gunmen, she raised Spitfire's arms and six tranq darts fired off at the same time ceasing the senseless gunfire. The thief seeing an opportunity decided to make a break for it but was halted when a laser blast from Spitfire's eyes landed in front of them, rendering them still through fear. "I wouldn't move if I was you thief." Spitfire's loud speakers spoke, a distortion proxy was added to the software making Olivia sounds like a deep voiced male.

"So you're the infamous Spitfire eh? I expected you to be smaller." The cloth masked thief answered.

Within a heartbeat Olivia knew she had heard that voice before but questioned casually "What did you want in that factory?"

"Something that was owed." The thief answered cryptically, she sounded female "But those assholes knew I was coming, so no stolen goods for me."

Olivia was convinced she knew that voice, she had an idea of who it was but needed to be certain before she dragged them off to the police "Take off that mask!" she instructed.

"I wear this for a reason!" The thief crowed.

"Remove it!" Spitfire commanded, pointing a arm full of tranq bolts at the thief.

The thief waited for a few seconds, weighing up her options bur she soon realised this was the only way to avoid trouble, the mammal removed her mask and showed her face to Spitfire who gave a clear gasp and yelled "Kiara!" the second she was unmasked…that's when the earth began to shake.

000

Robyn and Hannah had walked back down the promenade having finished their gut busting dinner of a sushi platter, chicken katsu curry and an ice cream bowl, the two girls were making their way to the taxi rank to get a ride home. It turns out everyone else was leaving the trendy nightspot at the same time so the que for a taxi was quite large. They would stood next to a falafel cart where a camel was serving mostly drunk patrons "So full." Robyn groaned, wishing she had skipped the green tea ice cream.

"Same here, I don't think I'll need any food tomorrow." Hannah agreed, her paw holding her girlfriend's.

Robyn ignored her full stomach for a moment, glanced at the dinosaur keychain in her paw and shyly asked "So how did I rank as a date?"

"You get top marks, honestly it's been such a wonderful night, thank you." Hannah answered sincerely then she drew Robyn closer and delivered a sensual kiss. But during the kiss both of their eyes snapped open as soon as the ground started to shake, they broke the kiss as their surrounding started to shake violently people began screaming and car alarms started blaring.

"An earthquake?" Robyn yelled over the noise, pulling Hannah closer as the buildings around them started to bend and crumble. Cracks in the road began to form and a few rodent sized cars fell in. Robyn was so shocked by the chaos she was seeing she didn't notice the falafel cart beside them had fallen over and the gas canisters had ruptured next to an open flame on top of the cart, Hannah saw what was about to happen and by reflex she pushed Robyn away from the impending blast, the gas canisters exploded in flash of light with tiny bits of metal flying towards Hannah's face, that explosion was going to be the last thing she ever see.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! How badly is Hannah's injured!? Will Kodi get his family out of the gallery? Why did Kiara steal from Olivia? Will Zootopia survive this disaster? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais; our favourite mammals try to make their way through the calamity only to find another disaster coming for them. Please Review and C ya soon…)


	5. Run!

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/ Crewefox here with another Chapter of Star of Ceartais, and first off thank you because within four chapters this fic has already got over 200 reviews so thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed this fic so far. You really are all awesome and thanks for the messages of support regarding my family emergency last week. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter.)

 **Chapter 4- Run!**

The ground stopped shaking after forty seconds, but in that brief moment of time buildings had collapsed, families had been torn apart and countless lives had been lost amongst the great metropolis of Zootopia. Once the tremors stopped Robyn finally began to stir laying on the pavement of the Sapphire Quarter, she hissed an "Ah." As her muddled mind trying to piece together what on earth had happened, but the first thing she noticed was the stinging pain on her abdomen and the warm yet wet feeling that was coursing down from her head, her navy blue eyes looked down at her toned stomach and she was disturbed to see blood trickling from a cut that had ripped through her dress "Oh my god." She breathed as she saw the blood beginning to pool on the sidewalk, she put a paw to her forehead and could feel a small head wound dribbling with crimson likely caused by being pushed out of harm's way by Hannah.

"ROBYN!" Hannah's voice shrieked in a voice laced with both pain and panic, the sound of screams and car alarms didn't block this terrified teen's voice.

"Hannah!" Robyn barked, her vision focusing on the white furred hybrid who was on her knees with her paws clutched to her eyes but what made Robyn's stomach lurch was the sight of blood coming from the girl's eyes "H-Hannah are you ok?" Robyn asked, her head still a little hazy.

"I can't see!" Hannah wailed, hyperventilating through hysteria.

 _What!? No…No! She can't be blind, she'll be fine, I just got to get her to the hospital_ Robyn's mind reasoned as she crawled over to her girlfriend, Hannah reached out and grabbed onto Robyn for reassurance. "Hey, hey it's going to be ok." Robyn soothed despite feeling a titanic amount of worry as she looked upon the streams of bloods staining the white fur of Hannah's cheeks.

But this worry was replaced by a greater one within a matter of seconds, the sight of mammals running as fast as they could alerted Robyn's eyes to what they were running from, they were running from the beach but the tide was way out, way more than normal and on the horizon a hundred foot wall of water was thundering towards land "Shit!" Robyn swore as she saw this calamity.

"What's happening?" Hannah asked with a terrified yell.

"Ok Hannah, we have to go **Now!** " Robyn forced, instinctively scooping up Hannah bride style and began charging down the street away from the tsunami.

"Why are we running!?" Hannah shrilled, the pain in her eyes was making her more hysterical.

"It's a tidal wave! The earthquake must've caused it, we need to get to high ground!" Robyn blurted out, not wanting to lie. The fifteen year old started weaving through the crowd of mammals with unprecedented haste.

"A tsunami!? Oh hell…." Hannah's voice trembled, subconsciously she held tighter onto Robyn.

"It's going to be ok, trust me!" Robyn convinced her injured belle and herself as she continued to run, pushing the pain in her stomach to back of her mind and focusing on the only thing that mattered to her; Hannah's safety. The fleeing Robyn glanced back briefly at the oncoming wave, it had just hit the beach and it was about tearing through the stragglers on the coastline, Robyn moved her focus back to where she was running everyone was just running for the border wall with tundra town…which was also on the coast. _Wait Tundra town will be getting this tsunami too! Damn it! Wait, we just need to get higher!_ Robyn's brain figured through the terror, her eyes started to look around her as she ran, most of the buildings were old and had collapsed but then she spotted a convince store across the street, it was new building and still standing despite the quake and she could spot a roof access arch atop of the store, she just prayed the door was open "Hannah hold on, I'm going to get us on a roof!" Robyn shouted over the screams of the crowd running for the border tunnel.

Hannah was beyond frightened but she knew the only safe place right now was with Robyn; her best friend, her girlfriend, the mammal she trusted most in the world "Go!" Hannah rallied, her eyes still searing with pain.

Robyn heard the words then proceeded to duck and dive through the actual stampede of mammals trying to escape their doom, they made it into the brightly lit convenience store which was unsurprisingly empty, Robyn raced behind the counter and towards the staff only area praying there was no obstacles to the roof. Robyn kicked opened a door that read 'Staff Only' and zipped down the corridor towards the only staircase in the building, the stairs were steel and sturdy so Robyn ran up them with Hannah in her arms, she could see the door to the roof and with a hopeful heart she turned the knob and…nothing. The door was locked. "Are you kidding me!?" Robyn roared with frustration.

"W-what's wrong?" Hannah asked, her dread dripping through her words.

"The roof door is locked!" Robyn crowed, already trying to think of an alternative as it was too late to run to a new safe spot now. Robyn could hear the cries of sheer terror outside the building knowing that tsunami was speedily getting closer, she looked at the stair rails and a desperate thought came into view, she set Hannah next to a railing an instructed "I need you to hold onto this piece of metal and not let go."

"What about you?" Hannah asked with speed, but as soon as she asked this the waves invaded the store and quickly began to rise through the building, before they knew it both girls were under water. Hannah flipped and thrashed around as she struggled for air, Robyn saw this and swam over, she held her crush's paws before breathing her air into Hannah's mouth via a kiss. Hannah began to calm down despite the dread and the coldness of the sea water swallowing them, Robyn began to think that this was it, she was already struggling for oxygen, she took some small comfort from being with the girl she loved. Robyn's lungs were about to burst as she tried to hold her breath but she knew as soon as she gasped for air her lungs would fill with water and it would be game over, just then the water receded and both girls crashed onto the metal stairs gasping for air. "H-hell…" Hannah panted, soaked to the bone.

"I-I thought…" Robyn began with a wheeze but couldn't finish the sentence, she wasn't going to focus on dying, she needed to keep her mind locked on survival. "Ok…we need to get moving." Robyn forced herself to her feet and was about to help Hannah when she saw the bottom of the stairwell, it was blocked by debris; she could see a refrigerator, a cash register and more disturbingly a pair of ibex corpses "No, no, no!" Robyn screamed with anger.

"What!?" Hannah panicked.

"The way down is blocked, we're trapped." Robyn seethed, resisting the urge to punch the wall.

"Have you got your phone?" Hannah offered an idea, her eyes still shut and bleeding.

Robyn grunted a reply "I dropped my purse, my phone was in it."

Hannah reached into the bust part of her dress and retrieved her phone and held it in the direction she thought Robyn was "Here."

Robyn snatched the phone and breathed a sigh of relief that it was still working "Thank god for water proof phones."

"Don't ring 911, everyone will be doing that." Hannah said, struggling to stay focused.

"Then who?" Robyn asked back.

"My parents, they'll know what to do." Hannah answered.

Robyn opened up the contacts page on the phone and scrolled down to 'Dad' and selected it before pressing the phone to her ear, it was only ringing for a second before an anxious Jack Savage answered " _Hannah?! Are you ok?"_

"Jack it's me, Hannah's with me." Robyn replied, relieved to hear her godfather's voice.

" _Are you two alright!?"_ Jack asked with urgency.

"No, Hannah's eyes are bleeding and I think I've got a piece of metal in my gut." Robyn revealed, looking down at her stomach to see that the wound was still pouring out blood "Wait let me stick you on speaker." She pressed the button and held the phone towards Hannah.

" _Hannah?"_ Jack called out.

"Dad!" Hannah cried, despite everything it was felt great to hear her father's voice.

" _Where are you? I'll come get you."_ Jack asked in a determined manner.

"Dad…I can't see." Hannah wept, scared of the possibility she may be permanently blind.

Before Jack could react Robyn replied "We tried to get to higher ground but now we're trapped, it's a convenience store in the Sapphire Quarter, it's the only building still standing."

The girls could hear Jack already running, most likely to the door _"Listen I need you to hang up this call and put the phone onto power save mode, if I have trouble finding you I'm going to need to call you guys, just sit tight and don't move."_ The MCB agent instructed.

"We will, I love you dad." Hannah said, hoping this was now that the last time she would say this.

" _I love you too."_ Jack responded, the girls could hear that he was choked up at this.

Robyn ended the call and set the phone to power save just as Jack had ordered, she sat down next to Hannah and wrapped an arm around her "We're going to be ok." Robyn promised, noticing that the pain in her stomach had got a lot worse.

000

The ground was still shaking when the rain of glass had ceased, Kodi checked his sister wasn't cut before checking himself "We got to get out of here!" Kodi yelled over the shouts and tremors.

"WADE!" Gazelle's shrieked.

Kodi and Sasha looked to their parents, Gazelle was crouched next to Wade who had a massive shard of glass through the calf of his right leg "God damn it." Wade winced as he attempted to stand up and failed.

Kodi rushed over and helped his dad to his feet "Come on, we need to move!" Kodi rallied.

"We need to get Dad to the hospital." Sasha yelped, her eyes bulging with fear.

"Let's get to the car!" Gazelle shouted, grabbing Sasha's hoof and dashing for the exit along with Wade and Kodi, and the other patrons of the gallery…who were still alive.

The ground stopped shaking just as the Jones family made it out of the now wrecked glass building, the cold night air of Tundra town chilling them bitterly, there was no time to go grab their coats from the cloak room. The family ran as fast they could with the injured Wade to the parking lot only to find another building had crashed down blocking the exit. "Oh no." Gazelle muttered, trying to figure out the next step.

Kodi who was still supporting his father heard a new chorus of screams, these ones coming from the snow covered beaches, the teen wolf looked towards where the screams were coming from, only to see a tidal wave approaching. Sasha saw this and uttered "Oh god.", she reached for her camera and started snapping photos of the wave.

Kodi spotted a parked car near them with an open driver's door and a dead leopard beside it, crushed by a fallen street light. Kodi hollered "Get in the car!" stepping over and opening the passenger door and laying the wounded Wade on the back seat "Mom get in the back and take care of Dad, Sasha in the front with me." None of them protested and did as commanded, Kodi took the car keys out of the deceased feline's paw and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Wait Kodi you don't know how to drive!" Wade realised.

"That's not technically true." Kodi replied, turning the key in the ignition and slamming his foot down on the accelerator "I'm sort of self taught."

Normally Wade and Gazelle would explode at this revelation, but nothing about this situation was normal, all that mattered now was keeping this family alive. Kodi raced down the streets, remembering the nearest hospital was across the other side of Tundra Town, but there was no chance to reach there before the wave hit. Kodi gave a little growl before doing a handbrake turn onto a destroyed street "The hospital's the other way!" Gazelle shrilled.

"That wave will hit us and we'll be dead if we go that way!" Kodi shouted back, pushing the car to it's limits and trying to keep control on the snowy road.

Sasha spotted a multi storey parking lot at the end of the street that seemed undamaged by the quake, she pointed it out and yelled "Get to the top of that!"

Kodi didn't need telling twice, he powered the car towards the concrete structure whilst dodging the other cars and panicked citizens running through the street. He turned into the parking lot and sped through the level after level, all the while the screams of the mammals outside were growing louder as the tsunami came closer and closer. Sasha got a brief glimpse of the wave, it was at the end of the street now and was hurtling towards them. "Kodi…" she mumbled in fear.

"Come on, come on." Kodi willed himself to go faster as he made it to the penultimate level, the car tore down towards the next ramp up and just as the tyres hit the ramp the wave struck the building, the wall of water did not ensnare the car though as it finally made it to the roof level. When Kodi was sure they were safe, he killed the engine and let out a howl in victory "AAAWOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Wade replied by reflex "Awoooooooo!" but his howl was strained by pain, he took of his tie and tied above his knee making a make shift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

"Holy crap." Sasha panted, her body shaking from the left over adrenaline in her system.

Gazelle who was in tears, reached out and put a hoof on her son's shoulder and wept happily "You saved us Mijo."

000

"Kiara!" Spitfire gasped just as the ground started to shake.

The look of puzzlement on Kiara's face was replaced quickly with panic, as the buildings around them started to sway as the earth beneath them shook violently. Kiara saw Spitfire looking around as the quake continued and she saw the opportunity to escape, she threw a flash grenade at Spitfire's feet then darted towards the exit gates, Spitfire who had been distracted only noticed the grenade once it landed at her feet with a clink "Oh for fu-" She began to curse but the flash bang exploded disorienting her with the immense light and cracking sound, it took a few seconds for her to compose herself but by that time Kiara was nearly out of the munitions plant yard. "Oh no you don't." Spitfire snarled before rising into the air and giving chase.

Kiara looked over her shoulder and could see Spitifire coming up on her fast, she spoke into her mic on the lapel of her gear and shouted "Priderock to Round Table, this place is falling apart, I need extraction now!" but before she could get a reply the building beside began to collapse, she tried to outrun but it crashed onto her, burying her in the rubble.

"KIARA!" Spitfire screamed, knowing that is was near impossible to survive that.

" **Spitfire, get out of there!"** Robin's voice pleaded over the radio.

"I can't leave her!" Spitfire parried even though the odds of her being alive were slim.

" **She's dead and more people will die if you don't save them, head to Sahara square or Tundra town, a tsunami's just hit there!"** Marian convinced, her voice laced with worry.

"A tsunami?! Oh god…." Spitfire lamented before psyching herself up and taking to the sky once more leaving behind a dead friend and a mystery.

000

Robyn felt cold, an odd thing to feel when you were in Sahara Square but she was still wet and shivering from the wave, plus she was sure the fact she was bleeding from her stomach was not helping matters, the blood flow had slowed but now the wound was stinging and throbbing horribly. It had been nearly ninety minutes since they had phoned Jack and there was still no sign of a rescue but she believed they would come, she had to believe, she wasn't about to give up, she still had a job and that was keeping Hannah safe. "H-how are you holding up?" Robyn asked the equally cold girl beside her.

"My eyes are not hurting as much now," Hannah answered, her voice weighted by her anxiety "I'm going to try and open them, can you check them."

"Yeah." Robyn replied, a little scared of what she might see.

"Ok." Hannah took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes and it took all of Robyn's mental strength not to gasp; the whites of her eyes had little cuts across the eyeballs and the pupils were fixed in a small dilation thus not adapting for a dark environment, there was no two ways about it Hannah was blind. Robyn just hoped that something could be done about it "How do they look?" Hannah asked in a pained voice, having her eyes open was really uncomfortable at the moment.

"Beautiful." Robyn glossed over "When we get to the hospital they'll fix you up, I bet Luna knows a great eye doctor."

"But what if I'm stuck l-like this?" Hannah asked, beginning to shiver.

"Don't talk like that, it'll be ok." Robyn assured, her teeth starting to chatter.

"But what if I'm blind, what's going to happen to me?" Hannah panicked, too cold to begin sobbing.

Robyn embraced the girl she adored to share some of her body heat and spoke softly "If you're blind we'll deal with it, your parents, my family, our friends will be there for you and I'll be with you all the way, I'll be your eyes I promise."

"R-Robyn…" Hannah whispered, despite feeling freezing her heart felt warm, she slowly raised her paw to find Robyn's face, she touched Robyn's blood stained cheek and guided her in for a kiss, it felt amazing even though their lips were like ice.

The kiss ended and the pair stayed wrapped in each other's arms, both of them shuddering from the low temperature, their bodies were succumbing to hypothermia, their fur and clothes were still drenched coupled with the wet environment had took it's toll on their already damaged bodies and unbeknown to the couple their bodies were beginning to shut down. "I-it was a wonderful date though." Hannah forced a smile.

"Yeah…it was like a dream." Robyn replied, her voice growing tired.

"Robyn, you ok?" Hannah fretted, noticing how tired her girlfriend sounded.

"It's ok…I'm just sleepy." Robyn answered, no longer feeling the pain her stomach, her body was going numb.

"No, Robyn stay awake, don't go to sleep!" Hannah crowed, shaking Robyn to stir her. Just then the sound of a helicopter came to her attention, it was really close "Dad!" Hannah realised "Robyn wake up, the rescue team is here."

There was no response, Robyn was breathing but not steadily and her body was trembling, she was going into shock. The sound of the helicopter landing on the roof blocked out Hannah's pleas of "Wake up!"

A fist slammed on the other side of the roof door "Hannah, Robyn are you two in there!?" Jack's voice called out.

"Dad help!" Hannah wailed.

"Stand back from the door!" Jack instructed before two shots rang out destroying the lock, the door opened and Jack stood there in his tactical gear holding a pistol flanked by two other MCB agents with med kits. "Hannah!" Jack breathed, relieved to see his daughter but also horrified by the blood coming from eyes.

"Robyn won't wake up!" Hannah cried out in anguish. The two MCB agents picked up the girls and raced back to the helicopter, they needed to get Robyn to the hospital soon or she was never going to wake up again.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Will Robyn wake up? Will Spitfire save more lives? How badly damaged is Zootopia? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review, next time on Star of Ceartais the Wildes and Savages are forced to make a choice, Nick must step up to stop Sherwood tearing itself apart and Robyn fights for her life. Please review and c ya soon...)


	6. The Heart of Sherwood

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/ Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. Thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reviewed and reblogged the last chapter, you are all amazing...and sorry, not sorry, for the cliffhanger last week. Also I want to thank the awesome SOC development team of Ray Kamino, Nick-and-judy-daily, Senny74 and Alexboehmn for helping with ideas and beta reading this chapter, I could not do this without you guys. Please be sure to visit my tumblr Crewefox where you can ask me anything and see loads of artwork and comics for this story. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 5- The Heart of Sherwood**

As soon as Robyn and Hannah had contacted Jack, the buck rabbit had ran into his Skye's home office who was busy trying to mobilize all the Major Crimes Bureau agents under her command to help with the impending relief effort, he had to shout that Hannah and Robyn were injured and trapped to get her attention. Skye immediately hung up the phone and started forming a plan of rescue, the nearest MCB office was less than three miles away and it had a helicopter on it's grounds, the husband and wife drove to the field office and Jack quickly selected two agents with medic training to accompany him on the rescue mission while Skye despite being worried sick stayed at the field office to coordinate all the other agents. It's at this point Skye realised one important detail that both her and Jack neglected; they hadn't contacted Nick and Judy, Skye cursed herself for this, she had been so focused on the rescue she had forgotten to call them. The resulting phone call was panicked, scream filled and sound tracked with sobs but soon enough a message came through on the radio that Hannah and Robyn had been found and they were getting rushed to Savannah Central General Hospital via the chopper. Nick and Judy were told to get there as soon as they could…

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." Judy repeated with rushed breaths, she was in the passenger seat of the family car as Nick drove through the wrecked streets of Savannah Central with the hospital less than a block away.

"Carrots, it'll be ok, just calm down." Nick soothed, putting on a brave face, but on the inside he was just as worried.

"Jack said come ASAP! What does that even mean!?" Judy snapped with tears in her amethyst eyes.

"Look we need to keep calm ok, Luna texted me and said she's taking care of the girls, they'll be fine in Luna's paws." Nick tried to convince his wife…and himself.

"But they were in the Sapphire Quarter!" Judy shrilled "You saw the news report, that wave killed so many mammals."

"She's not dead." Nick choked, unable to conceal his tears.

"But what if…" Judy began with a whimper.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Nick bellowed.

"Nick…." Judy uttered, noticing the pain in her beloved's muzzle.

"She's alive I know she is, as soon as we get there Robyn and Hannah will be there waiting for us, they'll need us, ok?" Nick rallied with tears stinging his green eyes "Besides Robyn's a survivor, she always has been since before she was born, there's no way she's dead."

"She's a survivor." Judy quoted, taking strength from the words.

Just then Nick turned the corner into the hospital only to find cars queuing to get into the parking lot with a line of walking wounded waiting outside the ER entrance "God damn it," Nick snarled with frustration "look you go in while I park the car, Robyn's in room D2 on the paediatric ward."

"Ok," Judy nodded going to open the door but stopping herself and planting a kiss on Nick's lips "I love you." She spoke before exiting the car and slamming the door, running towards the hospital main entrance as fast as she could.

As the love of his life ran towards the building Nick whispered his reply "I love you too, Judy."

Judy burst through the main entrance of the hospital and immediately had to dodge a Hippo nurse tending to a bleeding bull elephant, as her feet raced across the floor the police's chief's mind flickered with memories; she remembered the first time she held Robyn as a new born; her perfect little girl, so small but so full of life. _She's a survivor_ Judy thought as she followed the signs towards the paediatric ward, another memory came into focus; Robyn was a toddler and they were in Bunny burrow and she managed to hit Nick in the head with a soccer ball she had kicked _She's a survivor_ Judy didn't know how long she had been running, she ducked and weaved through the packed corridors to reach her destination, she was gasping for air but as soon as she reached the open doorway of room D2 he breath caught in her throat. There lay Robyn Heather Wilde in a hospital bed, a breathing tube protruding from her mouth, ECG leads attached to her chest and pulse oximeter pegged onto her right index finger, fluids and blood packs were being pumped into her through IVs and the strained wheeze of her breathing through the ventilator was all Judy could hear. "My baby…." Judy mumbled, tears soaking her grey furred cheeks.

"Mom!" A voice gasped, Judy looked to the other side of the room to see Luna in her white doctor's coat putting bandages on Hannah's eyes, while the nervous pair of Jack and Skye looked on.

"Luna." Judy sniffed, running over to her eldest daughter and embracing her in the tightest hug possible. "What's wrong with her?!"

"Mom, look just sit down." Luna tried, obviously upset as well.

"Just tell me!" Judy barked, still holding tightly onto Luna as she looked back at Robyn unconscious in her bed.

"She's in septic shock." Hannah blurted out, even though her eyes were covered, it was obvious she was crying, the teen was wrapped in an electric warming blanket but she was still shivering slightly.

"Hannah, your eyes." Judy realised with a start, finding it hard to focus on anything but Robyn. "W-what do you mean septic shock?"

Luna composed herself and said "Robyn had a shard of metal wedged in her abdomen, when the tsunami hit the coast both the girls were caught up in it but all the bacteria in that sea water infected her wound, couple that with the blood loss and hypothermia it's no wonder her body went into septic shock causing her organs to start shutting down, Hannah's also got early signs of septicaemia but we're prescribing some high strength antibiotics to combat that."

"Will she be ok!?" Judy pleaded.

Luna was trying her best to keep calm but her heart was breaking, she let out a sigh and started "Listen…"

"Oh god no!" A voice wailed from the doorway, everyone turned towards the cry to find Nick fallen to his knees, his muzzle captured in a moment of dismay.

Jack rushed over to his best friend and helped him to his feet "Come on Nick, get up." He eased, as Luna, who still had Judy latched onto her, walked over to Robyn's bedside.

"What…." Nick was going to ask a question but his voice eluded him, all he could focus on was his youngest child.

"She's in septic shock Dad," Luna informed with a sad tone "even with the antibiotics there's only a fifty percent chance she'll make it."

"What!?" Judy yelled, not wanting to believe the words.

"Kiddo, please tell me that's not true." Nick begged Luna.

"I'm sorry but once we give her the antibiotics the rest will be up to Robyn." Luna confirmed, her tough façade cracking letting his bottom lip quiver and tears fill her amber eyes as she looked upon her little sister.

"This is all my fault." Hannah lamented, still shaking.

"Don't talk like that, this is not on you." Skye urged her daughter, taking hold of her paw.

"I slowed her down, she had to save me and now she's like this." Hannah wept, she could feel her eyes growing moist under the bandages.

"Hannah your Mom is right, this is not your fault." Judy insisted despite her grief.

Just then an out of breath red fox in blue nurse scrubs appeared in the doorway, he was male and his late twenties with a pair of glasses resting on his face "Luna we've got a problem!" the fox announced while breathing heavily.

"Who's this guy?" Jack questioned, irked that they were being disturbed during this difficult time.

"This is Daz, he's one of the nurses I work with." Luna quickly explained before going over to her colleague "What's wrong?"

"The pharmacy was damaged in the quake, debris is blocking the inside of the room, we can't even open the door." Daz informed with an anxious look as he fixed his glasses.

"We have no drugs? Shit…what about the other hospitals? Can they lend us any?" Luna tried to figure out a solution.

"I've tried; two hospitals were destroyed in the quake and tsunami and all the others are holding onto their own, I've tried to gather enough tigecyline and levofloxacilin from the other wards but there's not enough to help your sister beat this." Daz told, handing over a few ampules of drugs.

"So there's not enough antibiotics?" Skye gawped, looking at the weak Robyn.

"Luna, what does this mean? I-is she going to die?" Hannah asked the question everyone was thinking but no one wanted to ask.

There was a brief silence, Luna closed her eyes as she racked her brain for an answer, then it hit her, it would be a gamble but if it worked she could save Robyn's life and halt Hannah's septicaemia before it got worse "No, I still have one card left to play." Luna declared as she got out her phone and selected Oliva's number.

000

Thirty eight; that's how many mammals Spitfire had saved in the two hours since the quake, all of them shocked yet relieved to see the imposing mech come to their aid. But that number was dwarfed by the number of dead mammals she had seen, some crushed by the quake, others drowned by tsunami and some more disturbingly by other mammals. The city was in chaos, the hospitals were being overrun by injured citizens, folks were fighting in the supermarkets for food and water and some idiots decided to start looting one of the malls. But Olivia wasn't focusing on these jackasses the only thing she was set on was rescuing mammals who needed help. Olivia had called her Dads to check if they were ok, thankfully they were, the pair lived close to the precinct 1 away from Little Rodentia which had been swallowed whole by the waves, she dreaded to think what the death toll was in that little borough of the city. Olivia was using the mech's heat signature tech to locate mammals who were trapped, she was flying over Tundra Town when she spotted a large heat signature coming from the collapsed fishtown market hall, she landed down beside a fire truck startling all the rescue workers "What the!?" A black goat exclaimed.

"It's that Robot from the news; Spitfire!" Another fire fighter said, this one a female racoon.

"Excuse me." Spitfire spoke, with a voice modifier, stepping past the group of firefighters and towards an overturned transit van blocking the entrance to the market hall, she lifted the van easily revealing the astonished faces of a dozen mammals who had huddled near the entrance. Spitfire set the van down in an empty space before giving a small nod to the flummoxed rescue workers, as she set off into the sky again she was bombarded with cheers and multiple shouts of "Thank you!"

As Olivia started scanning the area for more survivors Marian's voice came across her comm " **Spitfire, I've got Luna on the line she says it's urgent."**

"I'm a little busy," Spitfire groused "did she say what it's about?"

" **She won't say, but she sounds upset."** Robin's voice replied.

"Patch her through." Spitfire instructed, her vision still on the heat scan.

" **Olivia!? You there?"** Luna's stressed tone was clear to hear through the radio.

"Luna what's wrong?" Spitfire got right to the point.

 **"It's Robyn and Hannah, I'm treating them in the hospital, Robyn's gone into septic shock and Hannah won't be far behind if we don't do something."** Luna explained with haste.

"Whoa, what!?" Spitfire reacted, caught off guard.

" **What? No, no, no."** Marian panicked, her voice sounding oddly vulnerable.

" **We're heading to the hospital now!"** Robin said with urgency.

"What do you need me to do?" Spitfire asked Luna.

" **All the antibiotic supplies were lost in the quake, if they have any chance of surviving the night we're going to need the prototypes."** Luna revealed her idea.

"You want to test steel blood on your sister and her girlfriend?!" Olivia gasped "They're still in the prototype stage, there is no guarantee it could work, their bodies could reject the nanomachines and put them in cardiac arrest."

" **If we don't act now, they'll both die…this is the only choice we have left."** Luna cried over the comm link.

"…Ok." Spitfire answered with an unsure voice, looking towards the skyscrapers of Savannah central in the distance "Meet me on the roof of the hospital in fifteen minutes."

000

Luna put her phone away and took a breath before saying "I'll be back in fifteen minutes, Olivia's going to deliver something that can help Robyn and Hannah."

"What is she bringing over?" Judy asked, anxious once again.

"It's complicated," Luna dodged before looking to Daz, who was injecting what little antibiotics they had into Robyn's cannula "I need to speak to you outside."

Daz just nodded and followed the stressed doctor out of the room to the leave the two sets of parents to worry. Luna looked around the busy corridor to make sure no one was eavesdropping before whispering to Daz "I need to be honest with you what I'm about to try is illegal, I'm going to use medical tech that isn't fully tested yet."

Daz's eyes grew wide with surprise as he whispered back "Are you serious? You could lose your licence over this."

"We both know they'll die if we don't do something," Luna spoke, tears threatening the corners of her amber eyes "I've got no other option, I need your help with this but if you want out I understand, it's your career on the line too."

Daz's expression softened before hugging Luna "Of course I'm going to help you, I got in this game to save lives not follow rules." He promised.

Luna hugged her friend back and uttered "Thank you."

All of a sudden the sound of someone clearing their throat brought the two medics out of their hug, the pair turned to see Nick in the doorway who asked "What's going on?"

"I just needed to confirm something with Daz." Luna replied honestly, not noticing the strange look in her dad's eyes "I'm going to wait at the helicopter pad for Olivia." Luna was about to leave when she remembered "Dad what blood type are you?"

"B, why?" Nick asked back.

"Blood stocks are low and you're the same blood type as Robyn, Daz can you draw a unit from him before I get back?" Luna asked the nurse.

"No worries." Daz ensured as Luna dashed off to the stairwell, he turned to Nick and said "please follow me Mr Wilde."

A couple of minutes later Nick was sat in a small assessment room with the sleeve on his left arm rolled up while Daz inserted a cannula into a vein and attached an empty blood pack to fill up "This will take about eight to ten minutes, sir." Daz informed politely.

"When this night is over you and me are going to be having a little chat." Nick said out of the blue with a glare.

"Huh?" Daz sounded, baffled by the bizarre sentence.

"You and Luna, I saw you hugging." Nick replied with spite.

"Ohhh," Daz realised with a smile "it's not like that, we're just friends."

The stressed out police captain then grabbed Daz by the collar of his scrubs and lashed out "Don't play innocent with me, I can make your life a living hell if I wanted to!"

"HEY!" A voice blasted, Nick turned to see a pissed off looking male Dingo in a white doctor's coat entering the room "What the hell do you think you're doing to my boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Nick replied in confusion, letting go of Daz as the larger canine marched over.

Daz stood in front of Nick before the protective Dingo could strike "Beau calm down, he just made a mistake, he's having a bit of a bad night." Daz urged his boyfriend.

"Damn right he made a mistake, I'm going to kick his ass." Beau the Dingo bolstered.

Daz kissed his boyfriend on the cheek to calm him down, which worked swimmingly "He's going through a tough time, just let it go, for me?" Daz charmed.

The tough demeanour of Beau failed as he conceded with a "Tch, fine." Shooting Nick a wicked look before leaving the room.

"…I'm so sorry." Nick said feeling embarrassed his had made such a misstep.

"It's ok, honestly, I can't imagine what you're going through right now." Daz offered before joking "I just feel sorry for Luna's actual boyfriend when you meet him."

Up on the roof of the hospital Luna couldn't help but look at the devastation that had scarred the city; large portions of the city were in darkness from power cuts but the parts that were illuminated painted a scene of destruction; bridges had collapsed, buildings were piles of rubble and visible cracks in the ground could be seen. All that could be heard was the sound of cars honking, mammals yelling and sirens wailing; the city was in chaos. The familiar sound of thrusters caught Luna's attention, she looked up to see Spitfire coming in to land, within seconds the mech had landed holding a metal briefcase in one hand, the mech handed the case to Luna who eagerly accepted it. "I hope this works." Spitfire commented.

"Thank you for this." Luna replied with a tear in her eye.

"Of course, I wish I could be with you when you do this but I need to be out in the city right now." Spitfire spoke, motioning to the torn cityscape.

"How bad is it?" Luna asked, dreading the answer.

Inside the mech Olivia's face was forlorn as she answered "Most of Sahara Square and Tundra Town have been pretty much washed away, treetop homes in the Rainforest district have toppled over, the canal district is flooded, the meadowlands has little damage but little rodentia…it's gone. The death toll is going to be in the millions."

"No…" Luna spoke, haunted by the news.

"But we can't give up, we have to save as many mammals as we can, you need to go back down there and save Robyn and Hannah." Olivia roused "It's going to be a long night."

"Good luck." Luna wished, putting a paw on Spitfire's mechanical arm.

"Right back at ya'." Olivia replied before flying off back into the night.

Within two minutes Luna had run back downstairs and had reached the private room where Robyn and Hannah were being treated, she barely noticed her grandparents Robin Senior and Marian had arrived in the room, she went straight to the nurse desk and put the briefcase flat on it's surface and opened it to reveal two syringes full of a milky white substance, this liquid containing thousands upon thousands of nanomachines programmed with one order; adapt and survive. "What the hell are those?" Jack asked out loud.

"A prototype me and Olivia have been working on; it's our best bet now." Luna answered, before turning to Daz and instructing "Lock the door and get the crash cart ready."

"Whoa, what's going on?" Judy questioned, sensing something was wrong as Daz did as he was told.

"Judy, trust Luna on this." Marian urged, the sixty four year old knew exactly what was in those syringes.

"Ok, Hannah." Luna announced, taking a syringe out of the case "You first."

"Why her first? Is this dangerous?" Skye voiced her concern, stepping between Luna and Hannah.

"I'm giving Hannah the prototype first before any of her organs start to fail, her recovery will be a lot easier if the sepsis is stopped before it does more damage." Luna reasoned.

"I-it's ok, Mom." Hannah responded, sounding weak.

Skye agreed and stepped to side and hugged onto her husband for comfort as they both watched Luna inject the huge syringe into the IV port on the back of Hannah's paw, after Luna finished delivering the nanomachines she kept on looking at the life signs monitor for a good thirty seconds; no change so far, if the nanites had been rejected Hannah's body would've reacted by now.

BEEEEEEEEEEEP! The alarm of a monitor screeched but not Hannah's, Luna spun around to see Robyn's vital signs crashing "Shit!" Luna swore dashing over to her sister's bedside "Daz, defibrillator, now!"

"What's going on!?" Hannah wailed, knowing she wouldn't like the image even if she could see.

"Come on Robbie, don't do this." Luna spoke as she started giving chest compressions to her flatlining sister whilst Daz attached sticky pads to Robyn's chest

"No Robyn!" Judy cried loudly as Nick struggled to hold her back.

"Robyn…" Robin senior's voice trembled whilst Marian cried into his shoulder.

The robotic voice of the defibrillator spoke " **Stand clear of the patient."** Luna and Daz stood back as an electric shock was jolted through Robyn's dying body causing her limp form to twitch slightly but there was still no sign of a pulse on the monitor. Daz started the second round of chest compressions as Luna desperately scrambled for the remaining syringe and plugged it into Robyn's cannula "Don't you die on me Robbie!" Luna cried as she pushed the plunger of the syringe.

" **Stand clear of the patient."** The defibrillator repeated after thirty seconds of Daz giving chest compressions, Luna and Daz stood back as the second shock of electricity was forced through Robyn's body but instead of merely twitching this time the seemingly dying teenager bolted up in bed and swung her fists, with one of them striking Daz in the jaw and sending him to the floor with a groan.

"ROBYN!" Everyone shouted with relief while the red furred hybrid choked and gagged on the airway tube stuck in her throat, Luna quickly untied the ribbon securing the airway and pulled out the tracheal tube gently as not to cause any damage.

When the tube was out of her throat, Robyn inhaled as much air as she could before focusing on the crying yet smiling face of her big sister "L-Luna?" she wheezed.

"Welcome back Robbie, you were technically dead for just over a minute." Luna grinned despite being teary eyed.

"Dead?" Robyn coughed

But before Robyn could get an answer Nick and Judy had embraced her in a double team hug "Robyn." Nick sobbed, never feeling so much relief in his whole life.

"We thought we lost you." Judy wept happily, marking her kit with her scent glands in her cheeks.

Robyn absorbed this information and her senses came back into focus; her body ached all over and felt groggy as hell but she soon realised and snapped "Where's Hannah!?"

"I'm here." The striped hybrid answered in a weak but happy voice, Jack helped his daughter to her feet and guided her over to Robyn.

"Hannah." Robyn gave a sigh of relief, reaching out and grabbing her paw.

Hannah brought the paw to her cheek and nuzzled it before saying "Some first date, huh?"

"Yeah, one hell of a date." Robyn laughed but winced in pain, it hurt to laugh.

"Ok, lay back down Robbie." Luna ordered "You both need to rest up, your bodies still fighting the septicaemia."

"But they'll be ok, right?" Jack asked, helping Hannah back to her bed.

"It's looking good, but they'll need rest and fluids." Luna answered with confidence as she helped the dazed Daz back to his feet.

Judy who had been so focused on her daughter's wellbeing didn't notice all the times her phone had vibrated in the last couple of hours but the latest buzz did, she retrieved her phone and gasped out loud "87 missed calls?"

Skye figured her phone would say something similar and looked at hers and grumbled "44 missed calls."

"You guys should get to work, the city's going to need you four." Robin senior told.

"But the girls…" Nick started to protest.

"Are safe in my hands." Luna finished "Plus we have Nanna and Grandad here to keep an eye on them as well, now go."

000

When Nick and Judy arrived in Precinct 1 the place was in pandemonium; cops were running here there and everywhere, mammals whose homes were damaged in the quake were seeking aid and refuge in the building and news crews were clamouring for a police statement. Judy and Nick, who were still in their civilian clothes managed to evade the news crews and made their way to the bullpen which was being used as a crisis room. The moment Judy stepped foot in the room she heard not her married name but her maiden one "HOPPS!" Commissioner Bogo bellowed in a tone she had not heard since her first week on the force "I mean, Wilde!" Bogo corrected himself, walking over to the bunny cop of her dumb of a husband "Where in god's name have you been?"

Judy who was still upset from the events of the last hour looked up at Bogo with water amethyst eyes "Robyn's in the hospital, she was in the Sapphire Quarter when the tsunami hit."

Bogo's stern exterior faded in a heartbeat as he asked "Is she ok?"

"She's got septicaemia, and she was dead for a minute or so," Nick answered, sounding emotionally drained "but they managed to revive her, my Mom and Dad are with her now."

"Nick, Judy, I'm so sorry." Bogo said with sincerity.

"How's Benjamin and the twins?" Judy couldn't help but ask.

"Benjamin's assisting the rescue effort in tunnels between Savannah central and Tundra town with Priderock," Bogo informed "the boys are safe with their Grandpa Noah."

"So why are you here and not a city hall? I thought you and the Mayor would be coordinating there." Nick asked as he looked around the dozen or so officers on phones and looking at maps of the city.

"Trevor Moon is dead." Bogo revealed with a sad look.

"W-what?" Judy stuttered.

"And the assistant mayor is gone to," Bogo piled on "they were both at an art gallery in Tundra town for some photography competition."

"So who's running the city? You?" Nick guessed, reeling from the fact that the kind hearted mayor had passed away.

"Effectively yes, until the state governor arrives I'm in charge. I've called the national guard and they're mobilising a relief deployment as we speak and we just got word that the President has declared a national emergency." Bogo told, his voice weighted with fatigue and responsibility "All the heavies from Washington will be here within hours until then we are on our own."

Judy took a moment to gather her thoughts and announced, "We await your orders sir, Chief and Captain Wilde reporting for duty."

"Are you sure? I'd understand if you needed to go back to the hospital." Bogo queried.

"There are going to be a lot more kids in hospitals if we don't do something." Judy forced.

Bogo nodded in conformation before ordering "Chief Wilde I need you to organise your officers into two teams peacekeeping and rescue then make sure the civilians taking shelter in the precinct have food and water. Captain Wilde your SWAT team has been dispatched on a peacekeeping effort in Sherwood I suggest you join them."

000

Nick had gotten changed into his tactical SWAT gear as fast as he could and also retrieved his spare bow and quiver of non lethal arrows from the armoury which he always favoured over an assault rifle. The streets were so jammed with traffic he decided to make his way to Sherwood on foot, it was only two miles away and he was still pretty fit for a mammal nearing fifty years of age. But as soon as Nick stepped foot in his old neighbourhood his heart sank, some mammals were laying dead on the pavement, dozens were smashing shop fronts and looting while cops were trying to arrest looters left, right and centre. Nick walked by an old tenement building to see the youngest member of his SWAT team, Aleks Rojek, helping an injured elderly sow down the steps towards a minibus which was ferrying people to the hospital.

"Rojek," Nick alerted "what's going on? Where's the rest of the team?"

"Captain?" Aleks look surprised at his commanding officer's presence "Um, the rest of the team is helping the beat cops apprehend looters."

Nick helped Aleks guide the sow onto the minibus while asking "So why aren't you arresting looters?"

"To be honest sir, I'm more concerned with saving lives than saving TVs getting stolen." The silver furred fox replied truthfully. "I refused to obey Lieutenant Bradley's orders so he took away my gun…I am prepared to accept the consequences."

Nick felt proud of the rookie for taking a stand, most rookies would obey an order blindly even if they knew it was wrong but not this kid "You did the right thing Rojek, I'll straighten things out." Nick praised the young cop before walking off towards the main crowd of cops and looters clashing, Nick saw his lieutenant, a bison by the name of Bradley hollering orders at the other officers and shouted "Bradley!"

The burly Bison turned around and stammered "C-captain?" nearly dropping the megaphone he was holding

"Sit rep, now." Nick commanded with a disapproving look on his muzzle.

"Sherwood's in chaos sir, these assholes are stealing everything that isn't chained down." Bradley relayed, pointing towards the fifty or so mammals raiding stores.

"So protecting insured stock is more important than helping trapped and injured mammals in the surrounding buildings?" Nick asked rhetorically, distain was evident in his voice.

"Uhhh…" Bradley replied.

"Give me that megaphone." Nick ordered through grit teeth, Bradley quickly fumbled the loud speaker over, Nick then climbed atop of a parked police cruiser and commanded through the megaphone " **All ZPD officers this is Captain Nick Wilde, I have new orders; cease stopping the looters and focus on rescuing Mammals trapped in the rubble."** It took a few seconds for the new order to sink in but most of the cops actually looked relieved to be given this instruction, they dispersed to the cheers of the large group of mammals looting. Nick then looked to the mammals who were trashing and raiding the shops of Sherwood and spoke once more into the megaphone " **And to the rest of you I have one simple question; why are you doing this? Do you really think stealing a laptop or a games console is the thing to do right now? I'm looking at this crowd now and see faces I've known even before I was cop, every single one of you is better than this. The city is in dire straits right now, homes have been destroyed, families ripped apart and I don't even want to think about how many mammals are dead. And what are the residents of Sherwood doing? Looting! Look around you, mammals are hurt and dying and all you guys are concerned with is something shiny! My baby girl is the hospital right now, fighting for her life because she saved someone she cares about…So I beg you, stop what you're doing,"** Nick was crying now as he carried on " **go check on your neighbours, help them if you can, because that's what I'm going to do because I was born in Sherwood and I'm proud of where I'm from. The mammals of this community are the heart of Sherwood and right now that heart is bleeding, so are you going to help fix it or let it bleed out?"**

There was a stunned silence after Nick finished his speech, even the cops had stopped to listen to their captain's heartfelt words then one by one the looters set down what they had stolen on the ground and walked towards the cops to see what they could do to help. "Nice hustle Wilde." Nick whispered to himself while wiping away a tear.

000

Morning finally came and Robyn Wilde was actually glad her hospital room didn't have a TV, she couldn't bear to see anymore devastation after last night. Robyn who glanced over at the other bed to see Hannah softly sleeping with the bandages around her eyes still weeping a little blood, and despite the setting and the blood Robyn still found her beautiful to look at, she could only hope surgery would save Hannah's eyesight. Robyn then looked over to her grandparents Marian and Robin senior, who were snoozing on the two guest chairs in the corner of the room, the British couple had stayed awake as long as they could but tiredness had finally bested them. It's at that moment Daz, the nurse, walked with a fresh bundle of dressings and a split lip. "Morning." He greeted quietly as not to wake the others.

"Hey, whoa what happened to your mouth?" Robyn noticed.

"You don't remember?" Daz asked with a deadpan expression.

"Remember what?" Robyn asked, not remembering the first moments of her resuscitation.

Daz decided to be merciful and not embarrass the teen "Don't worry about," he brushed off "anyway, I need to change the dressings on your stomach, is that ok?"

"Sure," Robyn agreed, pulling up the hospital issue pyjama top to reveal her toned tummy and the white dressing covering it "I kinda' want to see if I've got a cool scar."

"Let's see shall we." Daz smiled, peeling back the dressing and giving a "What the?" there was no scab, no blood and no scar, there was no evidence that Robyn had ever been injured in that spot.

"Where's the cut?" Robyn asked, confused.

"That's freaky, I saw Luna pull out that metal shard myself, it was a nasty wound…whatever she gave you last night must've worked wonders." Daz mused, trying to figure out how such a grievous wound could heal so quickly.

"What did Luna give me?" Robyn mumbled, noticing that all the pain she felt last night had vanished.

(AN/ So what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star of Ceartais; the toll of damage to the city is measured, Kion tries to deal with trouble at home and Robyn and Hannah start to notice some interesting changes to their bodies. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	7. Playtime

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais! The Amazing Senny74 helped write some of this chapter, the awesome Nick-and-judy-daily beta read this and did the wonderful artwork and my buddies Ray Kamino and Alex Bohemn helped develop the ideas for this chapter. Thank you to the awesome folks who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed this fic so far, your support means SOOOOOOOOOO much to me. Also as a side note this is longest chapter yet at over 8000 words! So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 6 – Playtime.**

Four weeks had gone by since the quake and tsunami which the media had horrendously dubbed 'The Wave' and Zootopia was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. Just over eight million mammals lived in Zootopia before that horrific night, and about three and half million of those had perished in The Wave the majority of them rodents. Seeing soldiers on the streets to maintain marshal law had become an everyday occurrence and even after a month rescue workers were still finding bodies in the rubble. Most schools had been destroyed and the ones that were still standing didn't have the adequate staff to help teach what remained of the student body. Out of the twelve hospitals that served the city only three remained safe for public use, causing overcrowding and in some cases patients being transferred cross state for treatment. In the place of wrecked homes slums and villages of tents had sprouted all around the city, the mammals who lived in these so called 'Wave towns' were hungry, desperate and in fear for their lives. And as for the law and order? It was a shit storm; the two prisons that were located within the city limits had been damaged in The Wave and consequently over a thousand prisoners had escaped, crime rates had gone through the roof especially murder and robbery, the worst of times brought out the worst in mammals.

Robyn used to run through the public park in Savannah central for exercise every day but now that entire patch of greenery had become a 'Wave Town' where there were desperate mammals and zero sanitation. Robyn was a brave mammal but she wasn't stupid, there was no need to risk her life on a daily run, luckily she knew one place nearby that had plenty of space to run in and it would be rare to see any other mammal; Sherwood cemetery. Some mammals would be put off jogging around a graveyard others would say it was disrespectful but Robyn actually found comfort here, it wasn't frightening instead it was peaceful and this way she could drop by a certain gravestone every day to say 'Hi'. Robyn who was dressed in her running gear which consisted of a grey hoodie and black sweat pants had run ten circuits of the graveyard and was not feeling tired, in fact she wasn't feeling fatigue lately when she exercised she put it down to not having school so she had more energy, however though after her tenth lap she made her way to the most heart wrenching part of the graveyard; the nursery. For any mammal who had gone through the nightmare of losing a young child in Sherwood this was where they were most likely laid to rest, Robyn sat in front of a gravestone she visited more times than she could remember, she leaned forward and kissed the white marble of the memorial and greeted with grin "Morning boys." Robyn then sat back and relaxed in front of the grave of her three still born litter mates Ryan, Ronan and Reginald Wilde, technically born and died on the same day with only their sister Robyn surviving them. "I think I'm getting faster, y'know? This run is getting too easy, what do you guys think, should I add a few miles?" She asked, knowing she would get no answer, as always.

From as early as she could remember Robyn knew she was one of four kits but only she had made it, at first she had felt sad at this fact, that she had missed out on having three brothers and also a heavy weight of guilt that she had been the only kit in the litter that was born alive, but her Grandma Bonnie had given her some sage words that gave her comfort 'They are your guardian angels', now one could easily dismiss as an adult trying to comfort a child with whimsy but Bonnie Hopps was speaking from experience. Bonnie, like most bunnies, was one of many of a multitude of siblings but with every litter that her mother gave birth to some would sadly not make it, it was just the way it was. As Robyn got older during a trip to Bunnyburrow Bonnie revealed that she had lost seventeen kits, this fact was heart breaking but just the way things were for Rabbits, even if Robyn was a child of two species she understood this part of her lapin legacy. All Robyn could do was live for her brothers and never let them be forgotten. That didn't stop her imagining her brothers would be like if they were alive; Robyn pictured Ryan as the creative one maybe he liked to draw or play an instrument, Ronan as a sporty kid like her and Reggie as a mini version of their dad.

"So guess what? Mom and Dad finally have a day off," Robyn spoke to the gravestone "I know right, it's been like four weeks without them having a single break, they look so tired lately, apparently Mom's going to invite Luna around later for veggie stew so we can have a family dinner."

Robyn looked across the damaged landscape of Sherwood and beyond that the main hub of Savannah central, her navy eyes focused on the newish looking hospital where she had fought for her life not so long ago, she let out a sigh and spoke "Hannah's seeing the doctor this morning about her eyes, all the other surgery didn't work and this is the last ditch test to see if anything can be done for her sight…I don't get it, her parents are terrified for her and so am I but she just keeps smiling, she's so upbeat…I Just don't get her…maybe that's why I love her." Robyn found herself having butterflies in her tummy as she pictured Hannah, even if these four weeks had been tough the new couple still spent lots of time together although Jack and Skye were doing the whole helicopter parenting thing since her injury and that was pissing Hannah off especially when they walked in on her and Robyn kissing.

"Whatever the outcome of her meeting with the doctor we're still going to enjoy some junk food, we're going to head to bugga burger with Kodi and Kion and just hang out, like old times…plus Kion needs cheering up, he's been so down since his sister's gone missing." Robyn confided to her brothers, it always made her feel better to speak about her problems here, where no one alive was listening but she knew somewhere her brothers were.

Buzzzzzzz! Robyn's peaceful moment was broken by the rude interruption of a wasp buzzing in front of her face, she absolutely hated wasps ever since she was little. She jumped back in alarm and let out "Ah! Get out of my face!" but the wasp continued to get closer so Robyn turned on her heel and started running away from the insect, but it was pursuing her now, Robyn glanced back and she whined "Oh come on.", she looked back to where she was running and she was about to run into a bench, she panicked and tried to jump over it, the hybrid leapt into the air and cleared the bench easily…the only problem was that she was still getting higher in the air, she had easily jumped twenty feet with little effort "What's the?" Robyn gawped as she began to descend…and collide with a tree. "Crap!" Robyn squeaked as she braced for impact, she hit the trunk of the oak with a whack and hit the grass soon after. Robyn could already feel her right arm stinging, she sat up and noticed her forearm was bleeding with a jagged gash "Ugh, great." Robyn commented, then something unexpected happened, the wound closed up before her very eyes "The hell!?" She gasped _Did I just imagine that? There was a cut on my arm and now...wait I jumped super high too, what was that about!?_ Robyn's mind raced _Hang on, I got stabbed in the gut during the quake and that healed quick too; that medicine Luna gave me? It has to be it._

Robyn looked at where her arm had been cut mere seconds before and smiled to herself "Awesome." The teen then did a quick check of her surroundings to make sure no one else was around before positioning herself in a crouched position so she could launch herself into the sky as high as she could. "Ok, 3,2,1," Robyn sprung into the air with a huge grin on her face, this time she must've made it thirty feet before landing on the ground with ease before jumping again "Woo-hoooo!" she celebrated, she felt almost euphoric as she bounded through the air. She landed with a roll and laughed to herself before realising something important "Hannah had the same medicine as me? Does that mean she's like me?" Robyn asked out loud to no one, the prospect of having these new abilities was exciting but she was left confused to the fact that if her body could heal within seconds then why hadn't Hannah's eyes repaired themselves?

000

It was 4 AM when Aleks Rojek stirred from his sleep with Luna still sleeping soundly next to him, the couple were in a spacious king sized bed, the bed was meant for mammals much bigger than them but in the expanisive and luxury penthouse that Luna inherited it was well placed. As he lay in bed, he thought about latest events that had taken place in Zootopia, and enjoying the closeness and scent of the only mammal he could consider as a family in this new, odd and dangerous world. The vibrating sound of his phone disturbed the overwhelming peace, Aleks sighed deeply before reaching for it. What he saw, made his eyes water with tears of joy; it was a muzzletime call from his parents, he hadn't had any contact with them since the first few hours after the wave, he had been working so much overtime he always missed their subseqent calls. The grey fox answered the call and a screen displayed the faces of his beloved parents, it was clear to see that they showed a mix of worry and relief.

"O Boże, Synu, jak dobrze Cię widzieć." A Silver furred vixen on the screen said with relief.

*"OH God, we are so happy to see you, son."

"Cześć Mamo, cześć Tato." Aleks grinned sounding a bit sleepy.

*"Hi Mum, hi Dad."

"Nie obudziliśmy cię? Przeszkadzamy bardzo?" A Red Fox, his father, asked with playful tone, but his eyes were full of worry.

*"Didn't we wake you up? We are not disturbing anything aren't we?"

Aleks yawned "Nie, I tak niedawno się obudziłem."

*"Nah, I woke up awhile ago."

"Próbowaliśmy się do ciebie dodzwonić odkąd usłyszeliśmy o trzęsieniu ziemi, bardzo się martwiliśmy, że…" Mrs Rojek's voice was breaking down.

*"We've tried to reach you since we heard about the earthquake, we've worried so much that you may…"

"Byłem wtedy w bezpiecznym miejscu, z dala od zasięgu tsunami." Aleks assured, remembering that he had been in the penthouse when the tremors began

*"By that time I was in safe place, far enough from tsunami's range"

Even thoug Aleks had lived in USA for two years now, his Polish was still free of foreign accent. Luna woke up, hearing her lover's kind voice, for a moment she didn't notice that he was talking in his native language, but when she realized that, she looked over her mate's shoulder with pure curiosity.

"Hi." Luna smiled innocently, unaware of who she's talking to.

"Oh Dzieńdobry." Silver Vixen half laughed, seeing a young lady hugging to her son.

Aleks turned his head to kiss his love on the cheek, and said in a proud voice" Luna Kochanie, this is Elizabeth and Peter, my parents. Mamo, Tato, To jest Luna, moja Dziewczyna."

*"Mum, Dad, This is Luna, my Girlfriend."

"Nice to meet you." Aleks' mum greeted in English, she was proud that her son finally found someone.

"Haha, So that's mean that we soon will have grandchildren?" Peter laughed, his English was clear enough to understand.

"Tato!" Aleks yelled with embarrassment.

"Who knows." Luna chuckled, joining in teasing Aleks.

Aleks sighed covering his eyes with his free hand from embarrassment.

Luna, Elizabeth and Peter laughed at once. Within few seconds Aleks joined them.

When they all stopped laughing, Aleks' dad spoke " Jesteśmy tak szczęśliwi, że jesteś cały, i że znalazłeś sobie piękną lisiczkę."

*"We are so glad that you are alright, and that you found yourself a beautiful vixen."

Aleks smiled. „Tęskniłem za wami."

*"I missed you."

„Co byście powiedzieli na małe odwiedziny?" His mum asked him grinning.

*"What would you say for a short visit here?"

„Bardzo bym chciał, ale teraz mam masę obowiązków," "i ten cały projekt nadal trochę potrwa, więc raczej przez najbliższe dwa lata raczej nie dam rady." Aleks sighted sadly.

*"I'd really loved to visit you... but I have a lot of stuff to do here." Aleks continued with sadness in his voice "and this project is still going to take more time, so I probably won't be able to visit you for next two years."

„To może my was odwiedzimy, co ty na to?" Elizabeth proposed smiling.

*"So maybe we visit you? What do you think?"

Luna listened intently to their conversation having absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

„Spróbujemy przylecieć najwcześniejszym samolotem." Peter promised

*"We'll try to take the earliest plane."

„We'll be waiting." Aleks responded with excitement in his voice

"Nie będziemy już wam przeszkadzać,"Aleks' mum ended kindly. "Pa pa."

*"We won't be disturbing You two,"**"Bye bye"

„Bye." Luna and Aleks said at once, before hanging up.

Aleks put his phone on night table next to the bed. „So what time do we have?" He asked rhetorical looking at his watch and groaning slightly as he saw 4.23 am

„Way too early to get up from bed when you have day off." Luna yawned, laying back.

„Yeah," Aleks admitted „But it's definitely too late to fall asleep again." Silver fox sighed looking at his red furred beauty.

Luna smiled devilishly "Who said that we have to sleep?" She asked with bewitching tone in her voice.

Aleks give her gaze full of love, before leaning next to her and whispering "Then how about enjoying each other?"

She put her right paw on his neck and kissed him in response. He wrapped his tail around her and became lost in romance.

It was just after nine when Luna and Aleks had managed to get out of bed due to the clinginess both of them felt after such a passionate early morning. Luna had decided on making breakfast for the pair of them "Aleks do you want one egg or two?" Luna asked loudly, she was dressed in a set of silk pink pyjamas.

"Two, I've worked up an appetite." Aleks joked in response, his voice travelling from the bathroom.

Luna was about to throw a joke back but stopped when she heard the familiar ping of the elevator, Luna quickly stepped into the main living space of the penthouse to see the elevator door opening with the happy faces of her parents to greet her _God damn it, I forgot they had a spare key_ Luna's brain panicked before she awkwardly opened with "Mom, Dad, w-what are you doing here?"

Judy who was holding a cup holder with three rich smelling coffees replied "We haven't seen you in weeks, so we thought we'd come surprise you with breakfast."

"How did you know I had the day off?" Luna asked, trying to think of a way to get rid of her folks before they discovered Aleks.

"Well this little stalker," Nick motioned to his wife with a grin "saw a post on your furbook page last night about being off today." Placing a bag of Danish pastries on the coffee table.

"Don't call me that." Judy groused, swatting Nick on the arm.

"Um, guys, I'm actually kinda' sick," Luna lied "I caught this nasty tummy bug from a patient so I think, uh, you should go, I don't want to pass it on to you two."

"Oh sweetie we're sorry," Judy replied "we'll get out of your fur."

Nick however was not convinced, he could spot a lie anywhere so he asked with an arched eyebrow "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Luna denied in a voice that was way too high.

But before Nick could call Luna on her bad lying a voice called from the hallway "Luna have you seen my towel?" Aleks then appeared in the living room dressed only in his boxers and a toothbrush in his mouth, he became still as a statue the instant he saw Nick and Judy standing before him, the toothbrush that had been in his jaws fell to the floor.

Luna tensed up and whispered "Shit." Waiting for the inevitable shouting match to begin.

Judy was stood with jaw slack, her vision darting between Aleks and Luna, this felt so uncomfortable she now knew what it must've felt like for Marian when she walked in on her holding her shredded knickers all those years ago. She then looked to Nick and mumbled "Oh no."

Nick had his fangs bared, he eyes were narrowed and looked like he was about to lunge at Aleks at any given second "Rojek…" He growled.

Aleks who was intimidated beyond belief saluted his superiors by reflex "Good morning captain, chief."

"You." Nick hissed before bolting towards Aleks, luckily for the silver fox he was over twenty five years younger and a lot faster than Nick. Aleks bounded over the sofa with Nick scrambling over in chase "Stay still so I can rip your god damn head off!"

"Sir please calm down!" Aleks implored as he ran to the dining table.

"I'll calm down once I beat the hell out of you!" Nick responded with spite chasing the rookie around the table.

"Nick, quit it!" Judy yelled, watching Aleks make a break for the kitchen with Nick in pursuit.

As soon as Aleks reached the kitchen Luna put herself in the way of the door so her enraged father couldn't enter "Dad." Luna simmered, ready to boil over with anger.

"Kiddo, I need to teach that bastard a lesson." Nick said through gritted teeth, his eyes locked on the petrified Rojek in the kitchen.

"Bastard?" Luna repeated with distain before poking Nick in the chest and replying "How dare you!"

"Now Baby Girl…" Nick tried to manoeuvre both the conversation and a way around his daughter…but failed.

"Don't you 'Baby Girl' me," Luna cut down, her anger clear in her voice "I am so sick of this ridiculous protective Dad crap! Every boy I've ever brought home has never been good enough for you, have they?"

"Of course they weren't!" Nick defended.

"Why? You don't even get a chance to know them, you judge them as soon as you see him, you scare them away…but you didn't scare him." Luna spoke, pointing at her boyfriend.

Judy walked over to Nick and grabbed his paw then said "Let's hear her out….but let Rojek get some pants on first."

"…Ok." Nick begrudgingly accepted, he stepped aside and let both Luna and Aleks pass by, with the couple quickly heading to the master bedroom to get changed.

Two minutes later Luna and Aleks returned to the spacious living room to find Judy and Nick on one sofa, with the red fox staring daggers into the young polish cop. Judy who was drinking the cappuccino she had brought from the coffee shop opened the conversation before the pair sat on the opposite sofa "So how long have you two being seeing each other?"

Aleks, who was sometimes too honest for his own good, answered "Four months."

"Are you serious!?" Nick snapped.

"Dad!" Luna warned.

"Nick, please." Judy added.

"Fine! So how did this whole thing start?" Nick questioned.

"It was at the gym," Luna answered truthfully "Aleks was new and couldn't get one of the machines working so I helped him out, we started to chat and the rest is history."

"By the time I found out Luna was the daughter of you two it was too late, I had fallen for her." Aleks revealed.

Nick's flames of anger burned brighter while Judy's heart swelled at these words "So the day of the wave when you told me you had found someone special, you were talking about Rojek?" Judy asked, happy that her eldest kit had found a nice guy.

"Yes." Luna confirmed before looking at Nick and saying "You can stop staring at Aleks with evil eyes."

"Not happening." Nick defied, continuing to stare with ill intent.

"Dad!" Luna forced "Ugh, you do this every time!...Except when Hannah started dating Robbie, why are you ok with Hannah and not him?"

"I've known Hannah since was born, she'd never hurt Robyn, she's the perfect girlfriend for her." Nick stated, standing by his statement.

"And you know Aleks." Luna parried "You have been working with him for months."

"That's different," Nick back peddled "he's my officer, sure he's a good cop but as a mammal I don't know squat about him."

"Nick," Judy interjected with a sigh "I know you like Aleks as a mammal, you told me so."

"Carrots." Nick reacted, hoping in vain that she would back him up.

"The day after the wave you told me what happened in Sherwood, that Rojek was willing to sacrifice his job to save those in need, you told me you were proud of him." Judy stated, looking at Aleks who looked rather sheepish.

Nick didn't deny this claim but he wanted to move away from it all the same so he asked Luna "Why didn't you tell us about you two?"

"I was going to but then the wave happened, and ever since it's been crazy." Luna explained "Plus you act all weird whenever I mention I'm in a relationship."

"I still don't like this." Nick said sourly.

"Well tough shit," Luna replied with a fire in her voice "I'm an adult and I can be a relationship with whomever I want."

"Captain, Chief, may I say something?" Aleks spoke up, still maintaining police etiquette.

"When we're like this Aleks we're not your superiors; we're Judy and Nick." Judy eased the young fox's worries, and when she saw Nick about to protest this she promptly punched him in the arm to stop him interrupting.

"If you have any fears that I would dishonour or hurt Luna please know I would never dream of such a thing," Aleks began, feeling brave and entwining his paw with Luna's "for one reason we all know Luna is not a pushover, she's a strong vixen who doesn't take disrespect from anyone and the second reason is; she is my Ukochana."

"Uko-what?" Nick queried the foreign word.

"Ukochana, it means beloved. I love your daughter, I have never been happier than when I'm by her side, every day I try to be a fox worthy of her love and my body and soul belong to her…If you wish to fire me then go ahead but know I will stay with Luna no matter what." Aleks declared, bracing himself for a verbal barrage.

But the venomous words never came, instead Nick remained stoic and silent while Judy welled up with tears before cracking "Oh, that is beautiful." She gave a weepy smile.

Nick closed his eyes and breathed out, it was as if he had been verbally defeated before offering "Judy's cooking her Bunny Burrow veggie stew tonight…why don't you two join us?"

Luna who was still ticked off at her dad responded with "We'll come, but if you begin acting like an asshole we're gone, we clear?"

"Crystal." Nick conceded, begrudgingly.

Judy who had kept her excitement at bay so far could no longer contain her glee at Luna being in love, she got up from the sofa and wrapped Aleks in a tight hug and grinned "Welcome to our crazy family! I'll dig up all the old photos of Luna when she was a kit so you can have a look."

"Mom." Luna gave a warning tone but on the inside she was happy; at least one of her parents approved of Aleks.

A few minutes later Nick and Judy left the penthouse leaving the emotionally exhausted couple alone, after a long hug Aleks headed to the bathroom for a shower while Luna went back to the kitchen to continue making breakfast, it's then Luna noticed her phone on the kitchen counter flashing with a new message, she grabbed it and opened the text from Olivia which just had to words 'Bunker. ASAP.'

000

Robyn was waiting outside the hospital main entrance dressed in her casual clothes waiting for Kodi and Kion to arrive, the plan was for them to meet Hannah at the hospital and then hang out to either celebrate getting her sight back or consoling her on being blind forever, whatever happened they wanted to be there for Hannah. But all Robyn could think about at the moment was what happened at the graveyard earlier that morning and if Hannah was experiencing anything similar. _It doesn't make sense, I'm healing like magic and Hannah's still blind, how the hell am I supposed to bring up this subject? Be like 'Hey I've got super powers, have you?' ugh this is crazy._ Robyn thought as she looked at the mammals going in and out of the hospital, on the look out for the Savage family. _And even if Hannah's got these weird abilities, then what? Do we tell our parents? Our friends? Maybe I should talk to Luna about this._

"Hey Robyn." A voice called out, Robyn looked behind her to see Kodi and Kion walking towards her.

"Sup'." Robyn replied, her mind still on the whole 'super powers' subject.

"Any sign of her yet?" Kodi asked in a caring voice, despite acting like player the teen wolf did have a loving nature to him, he really did love his friends…and worry for them.

"Nothing yet, her appointment should've finished ten minutes ago." Robyn fretted before looking up at Kion, the usual chipper lion looked crestfallen, his broad shoulders slumped and his big brown eyes were clearly showing his depression "I know it's a dumb question but how are you holding up Kion?"

"Don't mind me squirt," Kion played down "we're here for Hannah, she's going through a lot more than I am right now."

"Don't say that big guy," Kodi sympathised "we're here for you too."

"Thanks but honestly I don't want to talk about Kiara at the moment, it's bad enough at home." Kion confided "Mom's convinced she's dead and Dad's been a basket case since the wave, he spends hours just sitting in her old room…it's like they've given up on her."

"As long as you believe there's still hope." Kodi comforted.

"Thanks guys." Kodi gave a sad smile, he then caught sight of three familiar figures approaching, it was the Savages "Hey it's them."

Robyn spun around and what she saw answered the question on whether or not anything could be done for Hannah's eyesight; it was a definite no. Skye and Jack's faces and body language just displayed defeat and grief, the husband and wife holding onto each other's paws for strength. Hannah who was on the other side of her mother with her arm linked was holding her cane in her spare paw and had her usual content look on her muzzle. Hannah sniffed the air and greeted "Is that you guys?"

"It's us babe." Robyn confirmed.

"I'd say it's nice to see you guys but well…" Hannah joked, much to the pain of her parents who exchanged an awkward look.

"Same old stripes." Kodi grinned.

"Well one advantage to be being blind is that I'm never going to endure your horrible fashion sense Kodi." Hannah played, unlinking from Skye's arm and stepping closer to her friends.

"Ouch." Kodi feigned being hurt.

"It's good to see you haven't lost your sense of humour." Kion said, still worried for the hybrid.

"Well if I lost that then I'd really be screwed." Hannah replied with a light chuckle.

"So…" Robyn had to say this "What did the doctor say?"

"All the shrapnel from the gas canisters was removed in the last few surgical ops," Skye explained, sounding down "but the shrapnel was not the reason for Hannah going blind."

"So what was it?" Kion followed up.

"The explosion." Hannah answered, before adding a quiet "Ka-boom."

"Huh?" Robyn sounded, her face scrunching up in confusion.

"The intense light and searing heat from the exploding gas canister oversaturated her retinas causing her…" Jack tried to explain but choked on his tears.

"Dad." Hannah spoke softly, holding out her hand so he could take hold of it, which he did "It's going to be ok, we all know it could've been worse. I still got all my other senses, I got the best parents any mammal could have and I've always my friends. Being blind is not going to stop me doing anything."

Jack wiped away some tears and sniffed "I wish I was brave like you, little one." Even though this was a tender moment Robyn couldn't help but laugh internally every time Jack called Hannah by her pet name, seeing as she was much taller than her bunny father.

"Anyway me and the guys are going to hang out for a bit, I'll be back around six." Hannah said, letting go of her Dad's hand.

"You're going out after what you just learned?" Skye asked, aghast.

"Well yeah, what do want me to do? Sit around feeling sorry for myself." Hannah parried, her aqua blue eyes still but had mischief in them.

"Well no but Zootopia's more dangerous than ever since the quake, it's not safe especially for a blind girl." Jack pointed out.

Hannah let out a sigh and stepped back over to her friends before saying "Look I've got a Lion and wolf with me, who's going to mess with us? Plus I've got Robyn with me, she'd never anything happen to me. And if push comes to shove I can fight off an attacker with my cane." Hannah proceed to hold her cane like a sword and swiped at the air.

"Ok," Skye accepted "be safe."

Fifteen minutes later the four teens were stood outside the Bugga Burger in Sherwood, only to find a bunch of cops and yellow tape surrounding the fast food place. "What the?" Robyn mumbled, the windows had bullet holes in them, staff members were being interviewed by police and paramedics were loading a shot moose into the back of an ambulance.

"What's going on? I hear a lot of noises…and I can smell blood." Hannah asked, honing her sense of smell.

"Looks like someone shot up the Bugga Burger." Kodi answered "Who holds up a burger joint?"

"Someone desperate." Kion theorized "A lot of stuff like this has been happening lately."

"Yeah, my parents have been working like crazy, I heard Mom say crime rates had tripled since the wave." Robyn added.

"So no burgers." Hannah huffed, tapping her cane on the pavement with annoyance.

"We could just get a load of junk food from the convenience store and veg out somewhere." Kodi suggested.

"Meh, why not?" Hannah agreed, really craving something unhealthy.

The convenience store wasn't that far away, the group loaded up on chips, sodas and candy bars before sitting on the curb outside the store, stuffing their faces. "So good." Hannah cooed, munching on some extra spicy tortilla chips.

"I've missed candy so much," Kodi spoke with his mouth full of milk duds "the 7/11 near my house collapsed in the quake."

"I miss going to school," Kion spoke up "they say it's going to be another three weeks before St. Zoo High reopens."

"At least you get to go back there, I've got go to a school for the blind." Hannah replied "I've got to learn brail before I can even think about continuing my education."

"You can do it, you always did have good grades." Robyn encouraged, kissing Hannah on the cheek.

"Well at least I'll be able to brag that I've got the most amazing girlfriend to my new classmates." Hannah grinned, her tail wagging with happiness.

"Excuse me." A polite voice brought the four out of their conversation. They looked to their left to see a cougar in his mid twenties with a stack of flyers "Can I give you one of these." Holding out the flyer.

Kion took the piece of paper and glanced briefly at the info on it 'DO YOUR PART FOR ZOOTOPIA, VOLOUNTEER AT THE SHERWOOD DISASTER RELIEF CENTRE, ALL MAMMALS WELCOME' "Relief centre? What's this all about?" Kion asked the cougar.

"The Sherwood community centre is housing some mammals left homeless from the wave, we're looking for mammals to help us rebuild houses, make care packages, organise clothing donations, basically anything we can do to help." The cougar explained.

"Aw that's nice." Hannah commented.

"So what is the red cross or government running it?" Robyn queried before taking a sip of her cherry cola.

"Nope, we're just normal Zootopians trying to help, like Nick Wilde did." The cougar answered.

Robyn spit out her cola at the mention of her father "D-did you say Nick Wilde?" She spluttered.

"Yeah, you've got have seen that youtube video of that cop who stopped the looting in Sherwood by using his words." The Cougar was wondering why the teen look bewildered.

"Yeah, The heart of Sherwood video, I heard it's got like ten million views." Kion confirmed.

"My dad's on youtube!?" Robyn asked, hardly believing what she was hearing.

"How did you not know about this?" Kodi laughed.

"Wait, you're Nick Wilde's daughter? Aren't you a Hare?" The Cougar pondered out loud.

"Nope I'm a hybrid, I'm half bunny." Robyn cleared up.

"Same here, except my Mom's a fox and my Dad's a bunny." Hannah threw in.

"Well whatever you guys are, we could really use the help." The Cougar added.

"Sure we can drop in, we're not doing anything." Kion smiled, knowing his friends were of the same mind.

"Great look for a deer named Alana, she's in charge." The Cougar gave a satisfied smile.

After finishing their snacks the three friends made their way to community centre a few blocks away, Robyn was not surprised to see a wave town had formed around the building with dozens of tents dotted around the grounds and mammals trying to live normally in the squalor. Robyn felt a sense of guilt as she walked down the street, sure she had nearly died in the wave but she still had a roof over her head and parents to take care of her. These mammals had lost everything and relying on hand outs from the government and the charity of strangers, she noticed some kids playing a game of baseball in the middle of the road with a rough diamond drew in coloured chalk, which was relatively safe seeing as the street was closed to traffic, the kids ranged from six to ten years of age and all of them were wearing smiles despite what had happened, Robyn wished sometimes that she could be that naive and blissful again but she knew it was foolish. One of the kids, a bear cub, threw a curveball and the young zebra batter struck it perfectly and it went zipping through the air out of the chalk marked diamond and right at Hannah, before Robyn could react though Hannah's paw shot up and caught the ball just before it hit her in the face. "WHOA!" The kids chorused "Did you see that!?"

Kodi was speechless for once and his jaw was slack, as he looked at the blind girl with a bamboozled look on his face.

"Damn…" Was the only thing Kion could say as he tried to process what he just saw.

Hannah looked the most surprised by this, "What…how did I do that?" she breathed, gripping the baseball tighter.

"Did you see that coming?" Robyn questioned, her mind already jumping to another answer; the medicine.

"No…I felt it." Hannah tried to describe "That was weird."

"Hey can we have our ball back?" The Bear cub asked.

"Oh, sorry." Hannah snapped out of her daze before throwing it back, aimed perfectly at the cub who caught it with ease which caused another ripple of whispers and gasps among the kids.

"How did you know where to throw?" Robyn asked, her navy eyes going wide with astonishment.

"I don't know." Hannah answered, sounding a little scared "Come on, let's go inside." She quickly changed the subject, leading her way with her cane tapping in front of her, the other three sharing a look of confusion before catching up with Hannah.

The group of friends walked into the main building of the community centre and were met with a scene akin to a military operation, except every single one of these mammals were civilians. There were a team of mammals in one corner trying to fix broken electronics, another team sorting out cans of food and bottles of water, one squad were going over schematics for new homes and the final team were sifting through clothing and blanket donations. "I don't care if city hall wants the wave town moved, it isn't happening!" A young but commanding voice yelled from the middle of the room, the voice belonged to a white tailed deer in her early twenties staring up at an unimpressed bull elephant in a designer suit.

"Listen the governor has stated that only specific parts of the city can have waves towns and Sherwood isn't one of them." The elephant blustered.

"Those other wave towns are already overcrowded and smell of piss and shit, at least here mammals can eat and sleep in relative safety." The doe replied with a fire in her voice, she was speaking so loud that most mammals in the room had stopped what they were doing to watch the exchange.

"I have a written order from the governor, do you wish to defy the government?" The elephant threatened.

"Do you wish to drag innocent mammals from their home and stick them in a hell hole?" The doe slung back, she was dressed in a casual shirt and jeans.

"Ok, suit yourself, but please note if the wave town outside this community centre is not vacated in the next 24 hours the governor will order the national guard to move everyone by force." The elephant smirked down at the doe who was tiny in comparison.

"Oh no, the national guard whatever shall we do!" The deer hammed up "What can a bunch of ordinary folk do against soldiers and their guns?" the doe then began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" The elephant asked, clearly irritated.

"You know every mammal had a weapon in here that could defeat your boss and his troops in a matter of seconds," The deer sniggered before producing a phone out of her pocket "one of these."

"A smartphone?" The elephant scoffed.

"Exactly, you see the moment you send the national guard here we'll start streaming on the internet as you force mammals at gunpoint to move, I'm sure ZNN would love to see that." The doe grinned devilishly.

The elephant's expression drooped but he still managed to say "You're bluffing."

"I can picture the headline now 'Cruel California Governor terrorises own citizens', it's bit of bad press to have especially during an election year." The doe piled on. The elephant was now at a loss for words, he let out a grunt of displeasure and made his way out of the building with the deer waving a hoof and singing "Buh-bye."

"Ok that was just awesome." Hannah said out loud, who had listened to conversation intently.

The deer turned to see Robyn, Hannah, Kodi and Kion and promptly asked "And you are?"

"Is this the Relief centre?" Kodi asked, rather stupidly.

"No it's the Sherwood luxury spa, we offer massages, there's a sauna in the back and a Olympic sized swimming pool out front." The Deer replied with sarcasm.

Kodi who felt dumb as hell at this point joked "I could always use a massage."

"I'll make it simple do you need help or do you want to help?" The doe asked bluntly, crossing her arms.

"We want to help." Kion answered.

"Good, we always need new volunteers." The doe smiled "My name's Alana, Alana Clearwater and you kids are?"

"Kion Priderock." The lion answered.

"Kodi Jones." The embarrassed magician answered.

"I'm Hannah Savage." The striped hybrid introduced herself.

Before Robyn could introduce herself Alana asked "Um, are you blind?"

"Nah I just carry this cane around for kicks." Hannah kidded.

"You want help, even though, y'know…" Alana tried to find the right words, her hoof nervously tracing speckles on her cheeks.

"I lost my sight in the wave but I know mammals lost a lot more, if I can help in anyway please let me." Hannah informed with conviction.

"I like your style kid." Alana gave an impressed look and a nod before turning to Robyn "How about you red? What do I call you?"

"Robyn Wilde." Robyn answered.

"Wilde…you related to Captain Wilde?" Alana questioned.

"He's my dad." Robyn clarified.

"Oh yeah, I heard he was married to a bunny." Alana grinned "Well let me say your Dad inspired most of the mammals in this room, including myself, he's a great mammal."

"Uh…thanks, I guess." Robyn replied, unsure of how to take the compliment.

"So let's get you some job assignments." Alana continued, she looked at Kion and asked "You got any back problems Kion?"

"No, why?" Kion asked back.

"I need a mammal to help with the construction crew, you up to the task?" Alana asked, pointing to the crew in the corner.

"You got it." Kion complied, strolling over to introduce himself to the rest of the team.

"Ok where's that wolf kid?" Alana asked, wondering where Kodi had gotten off to.

Robyn rolled her eyes and pointed with a sigh "There he is." Kodi was chatting to a very pretty she wolf trying to fix a TV.

"Let me guess, he's flirting?" Hannah chortled.

"Ten points." Alana griped before marching over to the lover boy.

"Wow, so you do a lot of charity work?" The she wolf asked.

"Oh yeah," Kodi lied "it's so important to help other mammals in need."

"You're so sweet." The she wolf cooed.

"So you like to help out mammals huh?" Alana cut in.

Kodi who had not banked on the interruption panicked and answered "Yeah, of course."

"That's so good to hear, because you're job in cleaning the shower and toilet block out back." Alana smirked "These poor mammals need a clean environment."

Kodi's smile faded and huffed "Fine." Knowing it was pointless to protest.

"What about us?" Hannah asked Alana, eager to help.

"Well we need some crates of bottled water taken out of the storage shed, can you two handle that?" Alana proposed, taking a key from her pocket and passing it to Robyn.

"Sure thing." Robyn agreed, taking the key.

Kodi, Hannah and Robyn made their way to the back yard of the community centre with Kodi grumbling "Damn cleaning duty, this sucks."

"Serves you right." Hannah laughed.

"Hey I was just chatting to her." Kodi defended.

"No you weren't," Robyn cut down "you were trying to get into her panties."

"Tch, anyway…." Kodi changed the subject "what was with that baseball Stripes?"

Robyn and Kodi watched the trepidation return to Hannah's face as she answered "You're going to think I'm crazy."

"Babe?" Robyn spoke, putting a reassuring paw on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Hey it's us remember, you can tell us anything and we'll keep our traps shut." Kodi vowed.

"Ok," Hannah said cautiously "I could feel it flying towards me, like static or something."

"Static?" Kodi repeated.

"It's been happening all week, I can feel stuff, like I know where objects are in a room because I can feel them around me likes little buzzes of electricity." Hannah struggled to convey "And it's not just that, all my other senses have kicked into overdrive. I could hear you guys talking outside the hospital before while I was in the elevator."

"That's…." Robyn was about to say impossible but after this morning in graveyard the word possible had changed for her somewhat.

The loud sound of a chain snapping halted the conversation, two stallions opening up the storage shed with bolt cutters and a pick up truck parked outside. "Are they doing what I think their doing?" Hannah asked, hearing the two horses whisper 'Hurry up' and 'Be on the lookout' from far away.

"They're stealing the supplies." Robyn growled.

"Let's call 911." Kodi suggested.

"They won't get here in time." Robyn replied before trudging over and shouting "Hey, what are you doing!?"

The two stallions turned around with one of them bellowing "Clear off kid, if you know what's good for ya'."

"Leave. Now." Robyn spat.

"Robyn!?" Kodi flapped.

"Robyn be careful!" Hannah yelled.

"We've already called the cops, you've got about two minutes before they arrive." Robyn lied, stepping closer to the thieves.

"You need to learn when to shut up brat!" The Stallion with buck teeth barked, flexing his muscles.

"Go run home to your ma, you cute little bunny." The other horse teased, this one holding the bolt cutters.

"Cute?" Robyn whispered, her eyes narrowing.

"Oh hell." Kodi gulped.

"He called her the 'c' word." Hannah grimaced

"Last chance ass hats; leave." Robyn said, standing her ground.

The horse with the bolt cutters had heard enough and swung the bolt cutters down at Robyn, she dodged them easily and kicked the stallion in the gut with such a force he was knocked into the side of his pick up truck with a visible dent….that was impossible Robyn was around the 17 pound mark in weight yet she managed to kick and launch 1500lb horse with little effort, _The medicine!?_ She thought _it gave super strength too!_ When Robyn realised what she had done she felt a surge of energy course through her, she was going to teach these thieves a lesson she bared her canine like teeth and grinned at the other horse who looked terrified and simply said "Playtime."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Both of our heroines have powers!? What did you folks think!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Robyn, Hannah and Kodi form a crazy idea, the MM gang and Olivia discover some disturbing truths, an awkard dinner happens at the Wilde residence and a heartbroken mammal arrives in zootopia. Please review and c ya soon...)


	8. The Things We Keep Hidden

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. First off I'd like to thank everyone who has supported this fic and protested against the Troll Mafiaguy2017, whose hurtful rhetoric has no place in the zootopia fandom. And to Jill Fine, if you're reading this please know I'm sorry for the online bullying you've endured and that I will always have your back. Thank you to everyone who, liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. A big thank you to the development team for this fic Nick-and-judy-daily, Ray Kamino, Senny74 and Alexbohemn who helped me structure this upcoming chapter and gave lots of ideas for future chapters, also thanks Alana for beta reading this, all you guys are AWESOME! So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 7- The things we keep hidden.**

"Last chance ass hats; leave." Robyn said, standing her ground.

The horse with the bolt cutters had heard enough and swung the bolt cutters down at Robyn, she dodged them easily and kicked the stallion in the gut with such a force he was knocked into the side of his pick up truck with a visible dent….that was impossible Robyn was around the 17 pound mark in weight yet she managed to kick and launch 1500lb horse with little effort, _The medicine!?_ She thought _it gave super strength too!_ When Robyn realised what she had done she felt a surge of energy course through her, she was going to teach these thieves a lesson she bared her canine like teeth and grinned at the other horse who looked terrified and simply said "Playtime."

"What the hell are you!?" The thieving horse babbled.

"I'm not sure myself." Robyn tittered, loving the petrified look on the horse's face.

"Little freak!" The thief crowed before throwing a punch down towards the much shorter hybrid.

Robyn saw this move coming and easily sidestepped the equine grabbing his arm as she did so, she flipped him on his back with a judo throw then like flash but him in a crippling arm lock "You really are as a dumb as you look." Robyn sniggered, unaware that Kodi had gotten out his phone and started recording what was transpiring.

"Arrgh," The thief yelled in pain "let me go please!"

"I'll let you go but I need you to understand one thing." Robyn said, applying more pressure to the stallion's arm.

"What?!" The thief cried.

"That the Sherwood relief centre is a no go zone for dicks like you, you spread the word, you hear?" Robyn threatened.

"Ok, ok!" The thief responded loudly, his partner in crime staggering to his feet by the pick up truck.

"Good, and here's a little reminder so you don't forget." Robyn smirked before twisting his arm and breaking it which caused the horse to wail in agony, Robyn let go of the thief and instructed in a forceful tone "Get out of here."

The two horses were that shocked and frightened they didn't bother clambering back into their truck instead they galloped away on foot. Robyn who was still in awe of what she had done was looking at her paws with grin. "Dude…" Kodi breathed, putting his phone away "That was awesome! How the hell did you do that?"

Robyn emerged from her thoughts and answered honestly "I'm not 100% sure yet."

Hannah walked over and asked in a puzzled voice "You're different to, aren't you? Like me?"

"Sort of, I found out this morning that something was odd." Robyn tried to explain.

"Odd?!" Kodi laughed, practically bouncing up and down with excitement "This is way more than odd, this is amazing!"

"I could feel you during that fight, I could sense your movements, I could hear your heart beating faster…" Hannah tried to explain her experience.

But before Robyn and Kodi could question Hannah on this issue a shout of "Hey are you guys ok?" zipped the teen's lips, they all turned to find Alana, the doe in charge of the relief centre coming towards them "We heard screaming is everything alright?"

"We caught some guys raiding your supply shed." Hannah glossed over quickly.

"Seriously?" Alana exclaimed "Ugh, that the third time this week."

"Don't worry Robyn sent them packing." Kodi revealed with a knowing smile.

"You did?" Alana asked the ginger furred brawler.

"Well yeah," Robyn answered, sounding awkward "I do MMA with my nana so I know how to fight."

Alana let out a sigh then spoke "I appreciate what you did but next time call for help or dial 911, the last thing I want is anyone getting hurt."

"Will do." Hannah chirped, glad that the truth had not come to light.

Alana then strolled over to the supply shed and picked up a crate of water bottles "Hannah, Robyn, grab those we need to make some care packages." The doe instructed.

"Right." Robyn agreed before whispering to Kodi "We'll talk about this later."

Kodi nodded in agreement as Alana added "Haven't you got some toilets to clean Kodi?"

"Uh yes Ma'am." Kodi replied, slightly intimidated by the deer. As the Hannah, Robyn and Alana went back into the community centre Kodi retrieved some cleaning products from the shed, but just when he was about to leave he spotted a set of car keys on the ground, he picked them up and looked at the pick up truck and smiled "Finders keepers."

Three hours passed and in all that time Robyn and Hannah didn't speak a word about their new found abilities, instead they focused on their task of making care packages. The girls were charged with making boxes of food for medium sized mammals; each box contained a two litre bottle of water, three tins of beans and veggies, a candy bar and a small loaf of bread. This box was supposed to last a medium sized mammal like a badger or a sheep two days, but compared to what a normal mammal would eat this was meagre, the depressing thing was that this was all that could be given. The government would only give out food at 'Official' wave towns but the citizens of Sherwood feared going to them due to the overcrowding and scary levels of crimes commited; theft, sexual assault and murder were all common place in the bigger wave towns that's why mammals preffered to go a little hungry but be safe in Sherwood. Despite being blind Hannah managed her task with ease much to the surprise of the other volunteers, if she couldn't find something by reaching for it she'd just ask Robyn who was sitting next to her to help her out. It was half past three when Kion came over to the girls, his clothes were covered in dirt, he looked a little tired but somewhat happier than he seemed all day, before the Lion could say 'Hello' Hannah spoke "Hey Kion."

"How'd you know it was me?" Kion asked, sounding impressed.

"Your scent, you wash your mane with a shampoo that smells like oranges, even after working in the dirt I can still smell it on you." Hannah explained, she was being honest about the shampoo thing but didn't reveal that she heard him talking to a few other construction workers as he came inside the building.

"I know you're a hybrid but you definitely got the nose of a canine," Kion answered with a small laugh "listen I'm going to head back to my place, you guys coming?"

"You go on ahead, we're going to wait for Kodi." Robyn answered, finishing another care package and putting duct tape over the lid.

"Ok, you three coming here tomorrow?" Kion asked.

"I think so, I mean it's better than lazing around all day." Hannah figured.

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then." Kion replied before walking away.

When he exited the large bustling room Robyn commented "He looked happy."

"Yeah, I could hear it in his voice." Hannah concurred "Maybe working is keeping his mind off his sister."

"He may be a big strong Lion but he's a sensitive dude, just wish he'd open up a little more." Robyn said, adding another finished care package onto a stack.

"Well we haven't told him about our 'Uniqueness' yet." Hannah stated.

"True, but let's figure it out first before we clue him in." Robyn proposed.

"Not bad ladies." Alana's voice greeted, the doe was coming over and looking at the impressive stack of completed care packages "You two did great, thanks for your help today."

"No problem." Robyn shrugged.

"Can we come back tomorrow?" Hannah asked, rather eagerly.

"Sure, there's always something to be done here." Alana agreed "But I think I've worked you enough today, your friend Kodi is out back tinkering with his pick up truck, he's finished his jobs too."

"His pick up truck?" Robyn mumbled.

A few minutes later Hannah and Robyn were back outside in the yard of the community centre where Robyn had bested the thieves hours before, they found Kodi trying to fix the dent in the side of the truck's passenger door, he heard footsteps approaching and looked up "Oh hey, what do you think of my new ride?"

"Your ride? Doesn't that truck belong to those Stallions?" Hannah asked, sensing the shape of the vehicle.

"Correction; did belong to those stallions." Kodi replied "It's mine now."

"Dude that's stealing." Robyn criticized.

"Oh no I'm stealing the truck of two thieves who wanted to steal food and water from homeless mammals." Kodi feigned distress.

"He's got you there." Hannah commented.

"You'll get caught by the cops as soon as they run that plate." Robyn warned.

"No I won't, the DMV and all it's records were destroyed in the wave, everyone's going to have to re-register their cars in a few weeks, so this baby is mine now." Kodi looked at the truck with pride, it was a silver Toyota pick up, it looked less than a few years old and would easily cost $80k brand new.

"Have you got your license yet?" Robyn asked, sounding like an overbearing mother.

"Sure do, my parents agreed to let me go for my license after the whole racing in a sports car away from the tsunami thing." Kodi bragged. "I passed the test with flying colours…so how about we drive to somewhere more secluded and talk about earlier?"

"Sounds like a plan." Hannah accepted.

It didn't take long for the three friends to find a spot with no one around, most of Sherwood's citizens were gathered around the community centre, Kodi pulled into the parking lot of a ruined furniture store and killed the engine once he was sure there wasn't any nosy mammals around. They got out of the truck and Kodi jumped right into the conversation "Ok, so; What the hell did I see back there?"

"Super powers." Robyn said bluntly.

"Are you kidding me? How? Have you two always been like this!?" Kodi asked, his tail wagging vigorously with joy.

"No, it's only since the wave." Hannah spoke before asking Robyn "Do you think that's what changed us?"

"Not exactly, I think it's the medicine Luna gave us." Robyn theorised.

"Medicine, what medicine?" Kodi questioned.

"Of course," Hannah realised "she said it was a prototype her and Olivia had been working on."

"So, my big sister gave us super powers?" Robyn voiced her confusion.

"Not on purpose, if what she gave us was prototypes she probably didn't know how it would react with our bodies." Hannah guessed.

"Never mind that," Kodi dismissed "what can you guys do?"

"Well like I explained I can sense things around me and all my other senses have been turned up to eleven." Hannah explained, before passing her cane to Kodi "Take this I want to try something."

Kodi took Hannah's cane and responded with a "Ok, what?"

Hannah turned her back to Kodi and Robyn "Try and hit me with my cane."

"What? No, I'm not doing that." Kodi protested, not wanting to hurt his friend.

"Trust me you won't hurt me." Hannah assured. "Go on, as fast as you can."

Kodi was still apprehensive but he did as he was told he swiped horizontally with the cane and Hannah ducked under it easily "Whoa." Robyn sounded.

"Keep going, don't let up." Hannah instructed, her back still to Kodi.

Kodi continued and kept trying to hit Hannah again, again and again and each time she would dodge the attack with the grace of a ballerina, she was even moving like one. Kodi soon became out of breath and ceased his futile attempt to land a blow on Hannah "Damn…that's cool." The wolf panted.

Hannah who was grinning from ear to ear was still psyched up as she faced the abandoned furniture store, she feel the glass panes of the windows their static field felt different to the bricks and mortar of the rest of the building. "Let me try something." Hannah said, picking up some stones from the ground, she threw the stone with speed and precision, striking one of the panes in the dead centre cracking it, then she tried the pane next to it and hit the centre again and so she continued until she had hit eight windows directly in the middle. "Looks like I still got my aim." Hannah said, sounding pleased with herself.

"A blind sharpshooter." Kodi said in astonishment, passing the cane back to Hannah "Too bad we can't go to your firing range."

"Ok, so we know what I can do, so how about you?" Hannah asked Robyn.

"Well…" Robyn smiled before bounding twenty feet into the air to the shocked gasps of Hannah and Kodi before landing on the concrete ground with ease. "I can do that."

"Holy crap…" Kodi exclaimed "Super strength and super jumping."

"And that's not the only thing, although this next one is a little weird." Robyn warned.

"How weird?" Hannah enquired, wondering what could be more odd than super strength and jumping ridiculously high.

"Ok, don't freak out." Robyn cautioned as she picked up a broken glass bottle off the ground.

"Why have I got a bad feeling about this?" Kodi uttered.

Robyn dragged the bottle across her forearm and blood began to pour out causing Hannah to yelp "Robyn!"

"Just wait a sec." Robyn calmed, holding up the deep cut oozing crimson and then just like that the bleeding stopped, the wound sealed and everything looked normal, as if someone had pressed a rewind button on the injury. "I heal super quick."

"Oh my god." Hannah whispered, grabbing Robyn's arm to check if the cut had healed, the area was still had leftover blood but she could feel no wound.

"Dude this is epic!" Kodi celebrated, resisting the urge to howl.

"So now what do we do?" Hannah asked, a little lost on the best course of action to take.

"I'm not sure, do you think we should talk to Luna about this?" Robyn wanted an opinion.

"Screw that, if you tell your sister she'll try and fix it so you guys don't have powers." Kodi butted in.

"So what do you suggest?" Robyn asked in a dubious voice.

"Isn't it obvious, you have super powers, so become super heroes!" Kodi said brightly.

"Oh come on that's just dumb." Robyn shot down.

"Is it though?" Hannah interjected.

"You're on board with this crazy plan? This isn't a comic book." Robyn asked back.

"Look Zootopia is in need of heroes right now, we have Spitfire but he can't be everywhere at once, if we have the power to help, shouldn't we use it? I mean you stopped those thieves earlier and now everyone in the Sherwood wave town will eat tonight." Hannah reasoned.

"That was different." Robyn parried.

"Was it? Because you looked like you were enjoying yourself when you kicked those horses' asses." Kodi piled on the pressure.

Robyn took a second to gather her thoughts before saying "I'm not saying it's a bad idea but it's a lot to process, I'm still getting used to all this super stuff."

"Ok sleep on it, but if you guys do decide to go into the crime fighting game you'll need a driver and I'm your guy." Kodi smiled, producing his lucky deck of cards and began to shuffle them "Crafty Kodi can do more than card tricks."

"That name still sucks." Robyn giggled, the thought of becoming a hero was daunting but somewhat appetizing.

000

Luna was still in a foul mood by the time she made it to the Dawson tech building, her thoughts were still focused on her father's attitude towards Aleks, she loved her dad but sometimes he could be an asshole. Luna drove her Bugatti down a back alley near Olivia's skyscraper and made a sure no one was looking as she pressed a button on her phone, suddenly a ramp leading below ground showed up ten feet in front of the car Luna drove down the ramp and followed the newly built winding tunnel down to the main hub of the 'Bunker'.

The bunker was situated under the Dawson tech building and was paid for by Olivia, the construction crew she paid to do it were fed a lie about her being a doomsday prepper and she paid them well enough to keep their traps shut. This stronghold had an armoury, a garage, a surveillance hub, a training room and luxuries like a kitchen, showers and even bunks to crash in. This place held a lot of memories for Luna, some of them good and some bad, she got out of her car and pictured a younger version of herself sharpening her arrows in the armoury when she was known to criminals of Zootopia as Andraste…but Andraste was long gone; she was Dr. Luna Wilde now. Olivia had moved all her Spitfire gear back to the bunker from the church in Sherwood which was heavily damaged in the wave, she had always said the bunker was not the same without Andraste that's why she tended to use the church base more. Olivia looked to an upper level to find a glass rectangular room on stilts with masses of computer monitors lighting up the largely dark bunker, this glass room was called the observation deck, where every CCTV in the city could be accessed and Marian had the computer power to hack into anywhere. Luna walked up the metal staircase to the observation desk and as soon as she opened the door she was met with unmistakeable smell of marijuana, she directed her gaze to the large sofa in the corner of the room and found her grandparents; Robin Sr. and Marian smoking a joint. "A little early in the day for green, isn't it?" Luna opened the dialogue, still sounding pissed off.

"Hey there she is," Robin Sr. gave a stoned smile "my little frying pan wielding angel."

"Why are you smoking weed so early?" Luna asked in a judging manner.

"Oh will you chill out," Marian said while exhaling smoke, the joint between her fingers "it's for stress."

"Stress?" Luna scoffed "You want to know about stress? How about Dad going all psycho in my penthouse this morning?"

"What?" Robin Sr. voiced his bewilderment.

"Let me guess he found out who your boyfriend was?" Marian guessed, the sixty five year old's head was laying on her husband's lap.

"Got it in one, uh Mom had to calm him down, he was just like such a ARRRRRRRGH!" Luna vented with clenched fists

"Oh Nicholas, he never changes," Marian threw in before offering the splif to Luna "take a drag and relax."

"Thanks Nana." Luna smiled at her very liberal grandmother before taking a good pull on the joint, she coughed slightly as she exhaled and critiqued "Whoa, that's good."

"So when do we get to meet Aleks?" Robin sr. queried, anxious to know more about the fox who stole his eldest granddaughter's heart.

"Soon, we're having dinner at Mom and Dad's tonight, if that goes well I'll introduce you guys to him." Luna answered, passing the smoke to her grandfather. "So what's got you two stressed?"

"It's better if Olivia explains." Robin sr. suggested with a worried face.

"Where is she?" Luna asked, looking around and seeing no sign of her hyperactive best friend.

"I'm here…" A Scottish voice droned from the direction of the massive work station.

Luna made her way over to the work station to find Olivia sitting in an odd seat, her chair was literally a chocolate muffin meant for a medium sized mammal and Olivia had obviously eaten part of it so she could sit in it like a armchair…except instead of fabric it was a chocolate muffin. Olivia's face had chocolate stains all over it and her eyes displayed only concern "Olivia, you doing ok?" Luna asked.

"We have a couple of problems we need to discuss." Olivia directed.

"…Ok?" Luna responded with a puzzled face.

"So do you want the bad news about Kiara or the bad news about Robyn and Hannah?" Olivia optioned.

"Wait, what? Is something wrong with Robyn?" Luna fretted.

"Maybe." Olivia got up from her muffin chair and walked over to the mouse sized keyboard on the workstation. "I need to ask you something; where should the nano machines that we gave the girls gone once they repaired their bodies?"

"Well they should've been processed by the kidneys and be peed out within 48 hours." Luna answered cautiously "Why do you ask?"

Olivia typed a few keys and all of sudden two silhouettes of Robyn and Hannah's bodies appeared on screen with multiple readings like heart rate, oxygen saturation and even brain activity showing up "Because the nanomachines are still in their bodies."

"What? No, that's impossible, project steel blood was designed to leave the body without regular top up injections." Luna expressed loudly, looking at the readings.

"And yet," Marian spoke up, wandering over to work station with Robin Sr. in tow "there they are on screen, the nano bots attached themselves to every major organ in their bodies including the brain."

"But the nanomachines were designed for a short life span, they should've dissolved by now." Luna pointed out "…unless, no it can't be."

"What?" Robin Sr. pressed.

"They are mimicking cells and enzymes, reproducing themselves in the organs that produce them and acting in tandem with the normal cells." Luna theorised, looking at the screen with all the readings.

"But that's not even possible, machines can't reproduce." Olivia shot down.

"Well what do you call this? Reproduction is the only possible explanation." Luna parried "You programmed Steel Blood with an order you thought was simple."

Olivia gasped then uttered "Adapt and Survive."

"So the nanomachines have adapted to their new surroundings and are surviving within the Girls' bodies, they weren't just keeping Hannah and Robyn alive they were keeping themselves alive to." Robin Sr. mused.

"Are the girls in danger?" Marian asked the burning question.

"In theory; no." Luna answered sounding sure of herself "The nanomachines are safe as long as the girls are safe, they won't put the girls in harm's way."

"That makes sense," Olivia agreed "but I've been getting some strange readings from Robyn and Hannah."

"How so?" Luna asked.

"Well Hannah's nanobots are emitting an electrical pulse every time her heart beats, it doesn't harm her in any way but they seem to be sending a message to her brain with every pulse, and her brain activity has gone through the roof." Olivia shared.

"And what about Robyn?" Luna continued.

"That's a little more weird, her adrenaline levels are high but it's having no damage on her heart, her muscles have been surrounded by the nanobots effectively raising her strength and agility. And another odd thing is that spikes of coagulants and cells that repair tissue pop up now and then." Olivia said pointing to Robyn's readings.

Robin Sr. took another puff of the joint and asked "Do you think they've noticed?"

"I'd be surprised if they didn't." Luna replied with a sigh "So what do we do?"

"Bring them in for a few tests at my lab the day after tomorrow," Olivia proposed "I'll need time to pull up all my data on Steel Blood to compare."

"I'll mention it to Robyn tonight at dinner." Luna accepted "So what's this about Kiara?"

Olivia let out another groan before typing something into her key board and the military record of Sergeant Kiara Priderock came up "Marian hacked this information from a CIA server," Olivia told with a sad voice "it seems like she wasn't just a member of the Army Rangers."

"Go on." Luna said, wanting to know more.

"She was hand picked for a joint US and British black ops force; known as Camelot." Olivia revealed.

"As in the King Arthur legend?" Luna wondered.

"Yep, it's a small team mainly focusing on counter terrorism operations," Marian explained her findings "but they have been given jobs by both the UK and American governments that are a little more sketchy."

"I don't like where this going." Luna commented.

"The government order them to steal tech and prototype weapons for the benefit of the States and Britain," Marian continued "so when Olivia's development lab in Scotland was raided last year it was Camelot's doing."

"So Kiara stole from you," Luna lamented "but she's our friend."

"She's also a soldier, she was following orders." Robin Sr. said bitterly.

"…Kiara." Luna muttered, her feelings on her old friend becoming more and more conflicted. "But why was she in the Canal District the night of the wave?"

"That's where things get complicated." Olivia grumbled "It seems the US government contracted Phelps Arms to reverse engineer my elixir system."

"But why would the government want a drug delivery system? It was designed for diabetics and cancer patients." Luna pondered.

"Because of a new type of steroid my pharmaceutical was working on for the Elixir system, it was supposed to help MS sufferers. It worked fine when we tested on birds and reptiles but…" Olivia found it hard to say.

"What happened when you tested it on a mammal?" Luna asked, fearing the answer.

"We tried it on a goat who volunteered but as soon as we turned on the Elixir pump it mutated him, he grew to twice the size, his muscles became huge and he went to a fit of rage…he died of a cardiac arrest." Olivia explained with regret in her voice "I had to report his death to the FDA and I guess this info made it's way to the defence department."

"So Camelot steals your tech and the steroid…but that doesn't explain why they'd need to steal it again from Phelps Arms." Luna voiced her confusion.

"It appears that Phelps Arms was offered a lot more money by another country for the tech, and since what the government did was illegal in the first place they can't go after them through the usual channels." Marian informed.

"So they send in Kiara to steal back the Elixir tech before it's sold to the highest bidder." Luna concluded.

"And now she's missing, I found no trace of her body at the munitions plant and according to military files she is being classed as Missing presumed Dead so she hasn't gone back to the military." Olivia added "We know she didn't die when that building fell on her, the question is how did she survive and where did she go?"

"I'm sure her family just wants to know if she's alive." Luna sighed, looking at Kiara's picture on screen.

"There's one more thing." Marian said, not really wanting to add to Luna's stress but she needed to know "Another known member of Camelot arrived at the barracks in Zootopia this morning; a British operative Ray Kaminio."

000

Flight Lieutenant Ray Kamino was stood on the opposite side of the street from the Priderock family home trying to gather his thoughts and his courage. The white tiger was dressed in his RAF uniform which personnel had dubbed 'Number ones', a Wedgwood Blue uniform complete with the emblem of the RAF and a military hat, immaculately clean and pressed. His face displayed a stoic expression but in his mind it was very different story. Ray was raised in Military family and ever since he was a little tiger cub he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps of joining the Royal Air Force, growing up believing that mission was all that mattered but now he had a mission and he didn't want to carry it out. His superiors had ordered him to travel to Zootopia, search through Sergeant Priderock's room in her family home for clues of her whereabouts and if he found nothing call in the rest of the Camelot team to search for their missing comrade. But for Ray this wasn't just going through the belongings of a squad mate, these would be the belongings of his girlfriend.

Ray had been at the pub with his friends when his commanding officer rang and told him that Kiara was missing in action, then all the news channels started broadcasting horrific images of the earthquake and tsunami that had decimated Zootopia and his heart sank. For the last four weeks it had been an emotional hell for him but deep down he knew Kiara was out there somewhere, alive and hopefully safe. So when he was charged with the search mission Ray didn't hesitate in accepting it, even though he knew he would have to deceive the family of the Lioness he loved. "I'm sorry Kiara." He whispered as he walked across the street and knocked on the front door of the Priderock residence.

About ten seconds later, the door opened to reveal Nala Priderock, still dressed in her ZPD uniform after her shift, her face displayed a sadness Ray had never seen before "Yes? Can I help you." She spoke.

"Mrs. Priderock, my name is Ray Kamino…" Ray began to introduce himself.

"It's you! Kiara's boyfriend!" Nala exclaimed, her blue eyes becoming watery.

"Yes Ma'am." Ray confirmed in a formal manner, pronouncing Ma'am as in 'Farm' as is the British way.

"Come in, come in." Nala fretted, stepping aside.

Ray took off his hat and stepped inside the house before adding "Please forgive me for dropping in unannounced."

"Please don't worry about it," Nala insisted "this must be a hard time for you as well."

"I must admit, the last few weeks have been hard." Ray confessed, following Nala as she led him into the dining room.

"Please take a seat, I'll go fetch Simba." Nala said, sounding flustered.

Five minutes later the three felines were sat around the dining room table, Simba who was used to playing host had poured them some coffee, however the warm and friendly nature that the forty something Lion usually displayed was nowhere to be seen, all Ray noticed was the look of loss and grief in Simba's eyes. "I wish we were meeting under better circumstances Ray." Simba spoke, his voice drained of energy.

"Me too, Mr. Priderock." Ray replied honestly "Kiara always talks about you two and Kion, she really loves you all."

"Loved." Nala corrected with excessive force.

"Nala…" Simba whispered.

"But she's only missing Mrs. Priderock, there's still hope." Ray said in kind voice.

"No offence Ray but hope is worth shit in this city at the moment," Nala replied, tears wanting to burst from her eyes "three and half million mammals died in the wave, odds are my princess…" Nala began to sob, Simba rushed out of his seat and hugged his wife.

Ray refused to believe Nala's theory but daren't argue with a distraught mother, he mercifully reached in pocket and fished out some photographs and passed them to the devastated parents "I thought you might want these, these were taken a few months ago."

Simba took the photos and gave a sad smile as he gazed upon the photos, it was Kiara in her Rangers uniform at a party laughing with some friends "She looks so happy." He managed to say.

"I know this may seem rude, but can I please see Kiara's room, it might help me cope." Ray deceived, in fact he didn't want to go in there but orders were orders.

"Of course." Simba allowed "Please take all the time you need, her room is up the stairs and the first door on your left."

Ray stood up and politely said "Thank you." Before heading up the stairs and entering Kiara's old room…and her instantly regretted it; the room smelt like her, an explosion of memories and emotions lit up Ray's soul, he wanted to cry but his stoic nature wouldn't condone it. He took a deep breath and started to search through Kiara's belongings for anything linking to Camelot, he didn't expect to find anything, Kiara was a by the books type of soldier she would never leave sensitive information around for anyone to find. After ten minutes of searching Ray was satisfied there was nothing to be found, he got his phone and called his C.O and stated "Sir, assemble the round table."

000

Kodi had drove Robyn and Hannah back to the centre of Savannah central before setting off towards his home on the border of the meadowlands, the centre of the metropolis had not been as badly affected by the wave as Sherwood and other districts so it was safe enough for the two medium sized mammals to walk back to their homes without being harassed, the two girls were only two minutes away from the Savage residence, the sun was just setting and the young couple were chatting jovially.

Robyn who was still trying to figure out the day's events came out with "I still can't believe today! I mean…I'm invincible." Her paws clutched to her chest so she could feel her own racing heart.

Hannah gifted a small smile before saying "We're going to need cool names. Something like Ultra Girl and Blind Badass."

"Hahahahahahaha!" Robyn burst out with laughter at the silly suggestion.

"What? I think Blind Badass is a good name." Hannah justified.

"You're such a dork…" Robyn gave a happy sigh before instinctively adding in the same tone "I love you."

Both girls froze at the sound of these three words, the three words that seemed so simple but meant so much. As soon as Robyn realised she had said this she felt her body heat up with embarrassment, her paw slapped up to cover her own mouth in a vain attempt to seal the three words away. Hannah stood still as a statue, her heart doing cartwheels in her chest, she wished beyond all things that she had her sight right now, if only for a minute, just so she could see Robyn…but wishes belong in fairy tales and this was reality, on one hand cruel but on the other amazing because of those three words. "What did you say?" Hannah asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"I…uh." Robyn garbled, cursing herself for letting such feelings to slip by her lips.

"Say it again." Hannah willed, her ears starving to hear the words again.

Robyn was trembling with anxiety, her and Hannah had only been dating four weeks and yet she had been in love with Hannah long before their courtship, and now the beautiful but terrifying truth had been unearthed by relaxed stupidity. Robyn decided it was time to bare her soul as she repeated "I love you."

Hannah had no words, only emotion; her heart was consumed by love. Of course she loved Robyn, she had loved her long before they started dating, she was her first crush…and first love. But the fear of rejection had kept her from confiding this feeling sooner. Hannah's body took over as she took hold of Robyn and planted her lips upon hers, Hannah pinned Robyn against a wall as they kissed deeply and lovingly, Robyn was ambushed by this kiss but soon enough she succumb to the raw emotion and reciprocated the snog…

After about two minutes Hannah halted the kissing and pulled back before admitting "I love you too."

"Hannah…" Robyn uttered with an overjoyed voice.

"You said you loved me even after today…after finding out I'll be blind for the rest of my life and that we've got these freaky powers." Hannah smiled with passion "Anyone can say I love you on a easy days, it's saying it on the hard days and meaning it that matters."

Robyn took this as confirmation that her love was reciprocated and said with absolute certainty "I love you Hannah Marian Savage."

Hannah gasped a little at this declaration before returning with "And I love you Robyn Heather Wilde."

After that the two teens walked hand in hand back to Hannah's house just before 6pm in the evening, Hannah delivering a sweet and tender kiss to Robyn's lips before retreating into her family home. When Robyn stepped away from the Savage doorstep and made her way back to the Wilde's apartment she felt a fountain of glee bursting in her heart, her mind blissfully on Hannah as she made the fifteen minute walk home. She made it to her apartment building and as soon as she stepped out of the elevator she could smell her Mom's famous bunny burrow veggie stew causing her tummy to rumble and her mouth to salivate. Robyn put her keys in the door and walked into the smell of her favourite meal, true she was an omnivore but she had always adored this Hopps family recipe. However Robyn was not greeted with the scene she expected, sure her Mom was standing on a stool beside the oven tending to the meal but her Dad was no where to be seen and a pissed off looking Luna and an anxious looking silver fox were sat on the sofa each with a glass of red wine in their paws. "Um, hey." Robyn helloed.

"Hey, just in time," Judy smiled "dinner's almost ready."

"Great," Robyn replied before looking at Luna and the mystery silver fox and asking "and he is?"

Aleks who was still a little jittery spoke up "My name is Aleks, I'm Luna's boyfriend."

"Oh so this is the lucky guy." Robyn grinned, going over and shaking the rookie cop's paw. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise." Aleks smiled back.

"You seem happy, what have you been up to?" Luna enquired, more concerned with what steel blood had done to her baby sister's body.

"Me and the others went and volunteered at the Sherwood Community Centre," Robyn replied "y'know to help those left homeless by the wave."

Judy heard this and said with pride "Oh baby, that's so nice."

"Very admirable." Aleks agreed, taking a sip of wine.

"It's nothing really, I was only making care packages." Robyn played down.

"You're doing a lot more than most of the mammals in this city." Luna commented "You and your friends are actually helping those in need, that's really nice."

Aleks put his wine glass on the coffee table "Excuse me." He spoke before heading in the direction of the bathroom but before he could even make it there a blur of red fur grabbed him, pushed him against the wall and positioned an arrow head dangerously next to his throat, this assailant was obviously Nick Wilde.

"Listen to me Rojek," Nick whispered harshly, to avoid detection from Judy, Luna and Robyn "I'm laying down a law right now."

"C-captain." Aleks stammered in the quietest voice possible.

"The law is simple; you make my daughter cry you die." Nick threatened in a hushed tone "If you mistreat her, badmouth her or disrespect her I will come down on you like the freaking apocalypse, do we understand one another?"

Aleks nodded slowly and carefully to avoid his neck getting cut by the arrow head, the stunned swat officer then continued towards the bathroom.

"Oh and one more thing," Nick teased a devilish smile, twirling the arrow head in his paw "welcome to the family son."

(AN/ So what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star of Ceatais; Robyn, Hannah and Kodi hatch a plan to bring justice to Sherwood, Bogo comes to Nick with a daunting job offer, Kion gets in a fight with his parents and Spitfire flies into action once again. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	9. First Step and First Stumble

(AN/ I'm Back! After a 2 week break I'm back with a new chapter, sorry about the delay but university work and family problems caused the break last week. Thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. A Big thank you to helthehatter for letting me use her OCs in this chapter and my my heartfelt thanks to the development team who have continued to support me through this difficult time and Ta' to Alana for beta reading this and adding the spanish section. Quick note, all the art and comics for this series now has a dedicated tumblr; zootopia-take-a-stand-art so without further ado lets get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 8- First step and first stumble.**

By the time Robyn woke up at 9am her parents had already left for work, the apartment had the lingering welcome smell of veggie stew as she ate some cereal at the dining table, as she munched on her favourite chocolate cereal Robyn was sorting her muddled thoughts on three very different subjects; the buzz of saying I love you to Hannah last night, Kodi suggestion of becoming a super hero and the fear of Luna's mysterious invitation to the Dawson Tech building. It was the strangest thing when Luna just asked out of the blue to come to Olivia's lab, when Robyn had asked why her big sister replied "We just want to make sure the medicine I gave you caused no side effects." _I mean, what the hell?_ Robyn thought as she ate her breakfast _She asks about the medicine the day I found out I have powers, it way too big of a coincidence._

She'd have to discuss it with Hannah and Kodi today, the wolf was picking up Kion, Hannah and herself in his newly acquired pick up truck and head to the Sherwood community centre for another day of volunteering. As Robyn finished her breakfast and put her bowl in the sink she asked herself mentally _Should we tell Kion what's going on?_ Even though he was older than his three friends he was kind and wise beyond his years, he was sort of the cooler older brother of the gang, it felt wrong to keep him in the dark but on the other hand it seemed unfair to pile any more stress onto the already troubled lion. "Not yet." Robyn told herself as she went to get changed out of her PJs.

An hour later the four friends pulled into the community centre's parking lot and got out of the truck, "Ready for another day?" Kion asked, dressed in old jeans and a red flannel shirt covering a white vest.

"As long as I don't have to scrub toilets again." Kodi groaned, holding a small sports bag "I brought some of my magic tricks, I was thinking I could put on a show for the kids in the wave town."

"Aww that's nice." Hannah commented, unfolding her cane and looping the band around her wrist.

"Your Mom must be happy your helping out, since she's so big on charity." Robyn added, knowing that Gazelle was a patron of many charities and used her vast wealth to help the less fortunate.

"Yeah, she was practically bouncing up and down at the news." Kodi smiled, but his smile soon faded as he saw two police cruisers parked right by the entrance "What the?"

"What is it?" Hannah asked, able to sense the shape of the cars but not the details.

"It's two cop cars, something bad must've happened." Kion answered, hoping that he was wrong.

"Let's find out." Robyn said, praying that the Sherwood wave town had not become as lawless as the others.

The group walked in to find the usual crowd of mammals working missing, the only occupants in the room were four cops who were setting up crime scene tape, taking photos and evidence, with one of the cops; an anteater taking a witness statement from Alana Clearwater. The deer was sat in a chair speaking intently with the anteater copper, her left eye was closed and swollen and there a band aid covering a cut on her cheek, it was clear that she had been on the receiving end of a beating. Hannah could smell the blood coming off of the doe and mumbled "Oh no."

"Alana, you ok?" Robyn asked directly, marching over.

"Hey kid, clear off will ya'." The Anteater officer warned, giving a disapproving look to the four teens.

"Lay off, they're all volunteers here." Alana defended the group, her fiery personality still aflame despite a pummelling.

"What the hell happened?" Kodi asked, sounding more worried than angry.

"I was opening up the community centre for the day and this gang of punks jumps me and drags me inside, they put a gun to my head and made me open the safe." Alana explained, sounding pissed off.

"Safe? Why would this place have a safe?" Kion asked, looking around to see crates of food and building materials.

"It's where we store all our medicines, since the wave hit all that stuff is hard to come by, the stuff in the safe is meant for the mammals in wave town but now it's all gone. Antibiotics, insulin, inhalers you name it they took it, thousands of dollars worth of medicine taken by those bastards." Alana continued, her voice simmering with anger.

"So what happened with this?" Robyn questioned motioning towards Alana's swollen eye, her voice steely.

"I called the Razor who had the gun on me a cowardly asshole, so he pistol whipped me." Alana groused, folding her arms.

"Razor? You mean like a boar?" Hannah voiced her puzzlement.

"No, the Razors are a Sherwood gang, they are always dressed in silver of grey, bunch of little bitches if you ask me." Alana griped "Listen the cops have declared this a crime scene so no volunteering today, you guys should just head home."

"Right," Kodi sighed, feeling bad for the wave town residents "we'll see you another time."

"Take care and don't rile up any more gang members." Hannah half joked, heading for the exit.

"No promises." Alana ginned before going back to her conversation with the police officer.

When the four friends emerged from the community centre Kodi summed up the situation perfectly "Well that sucks."

"No kidding, why would they steal that much medicine in the first place?" Hannah wondered.

"To sell it," Kion answered "I heard my mom mention something about criminals selling prescription drugs since the wave, apparently their charging triple the normal rate and because mammals are desperate they are willing to pay for it."

"Dude that's just…." Kodi suppressed a growl, but his frustration was evident on his muzzle.

"It's horrible, I know, but all we can do now is let the cops do their jobs." Kion responded before adding "Listen I'm going to head to the city centre."

"I can give you a ride big guy." Kodi offered.

"No offence guys, but it's a personal matter." Kion deflected to the surprise of Hannah and Kodi, the lion was usually open about most things.

"Oh ok…" Hannah replied "We'll catch up tomorrow?"

"Sure." Kion gave a small smile before walking off towards the tram stop.

"Private matter?" Kodi asked out loud, once Kion was half way down the street "I wonder what it is."

"None of our business." Hannah shot down, tapping her cane on the floor to emphasise the point.

"Maybe he's got a date?" Kodi grinned "A nice girl…or guy. Say I can't remember Kion ever having a date with anyone."

"First of all; I repeat it's none of our business and secondly: Kion isn't into males." Hannah replied, sounding sure of herself.

"How would you know Stripes?" Kodi asked back.

"Easy; gaydar." Hannah smiled smugly.

"Is that so?" Kodi grinned "Well if your gaydar is that good how come you didn't realise Robyn was Bi?"

"…Damn it, you're right." Hannah responded, her smugness evaporating.

Kodi chuckled a bit before asking Robyn "What do you think Robyn? Has Kion got a date?"

But Robyn didn't answer, her navy eyes were focused, her face still displaying the frustration she was speaking with Alana with her mind electrified with thoughts.

"Um Robyn?" Hannah queried "You ok?"

"I'm thinking." Robyn responded bluntly.

"About?" Kodi pressed.

"How we're going to get that medicine back." Robyn answered in a quiet voice as not to alert anyone around them.

"Huh?" Hannah sounded.

Kodi realised what the red furred girl was on about and grinned "I'm in."

"Good, because tonight we're going to be heroes." Robyn said confidently…then immediately regretted saying it because it sounded cheesy as hell.

000

The bullpen of ZPD's precinct 1, the one place where every beat cop would see each other before attending to their various duties. Roll call was actually Judy's favourite part of her day since becoming chief, she felt a sense of pride every time she stood at that podium and handed out the assignments for the officers under her command, some of her cops had been in the force longer than her while others were just six months into the job, but she trusted each and everyone of them.

So as Judy approached the bullpen door, which was a little ajar so Lieutenant Clawhauser could see the short statured rabbit coming "Ten-hut!" Clawhauser announced in a booming voice triggering all the cops in the bullpen to rise to their feet and begin their usual whooping, roaring and howling as a sign of respect to their boss all the while banging their fists on the tables.

"All right that's enough," Judy warned as she hopped up to the elevated stool so she could be seen on the podium "sit down."

But as always her beloved brothers and sisters in blue kept on with their odd tradition of making as much noise as possible.

"CAN IT!" Judy barked loudly, playfully mean.

"Oh come on Carrots you know you love the attention." Nick teased, sat in the usual chair they used to share when they were partners.

"Is that so?" Judy smirked "Well I know someone who won't be getting any 'Attention' if he doesn't keep his mouth shut."

This caused an uproar of laughter in the bullpen with added jibes of "You're on the sofa tonight" and "A Bunny just savaged a Fox!" while Nick just took all the barbs on the chin.

"Alright, first item on the agenda," Judy read from her clipboard "three bodies were found in nearby derelict building; a female tapir, a male jackal and female hare. All of them had their wrists bound and were found with their heads in buckets of water, murdered by drowning. This matches the same situation with a double murder last week in the canal district, so we're classing this a serial killer case. We'll be working with the Major Crime Bureau on this but until they profile the killer we will be keeping this out of the media. So what do you answer if a reporter asks you a question?"

"No comment." Every cop in the room answered simultaneously.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Judy nodded "ok assignments; Delgato, Wolford I want you two on the beat in Sherwood, apparently the Razors are causing trouble again. Trunagabee, Grizzoli I want you to patrol the Wave town in Savannah central park. Ahmed, Samson and Li, you three will be on solo beat today. Clawhauser, Priderock..." But as Judy looked for Nala she was nowhere to be seen, she turned to Clawhauser and asked carefully "Where's Nala?"

"She called in sick." Clawhauser replied with a knowing look, they both knew that Nala wasn't really sick, she was taking Kiara's disappearance hard like any parent would.

Judy accepted that Nala needed time and didn't ask any further questions she just instructed her old friend "I need you to assist and guard at the murder scene with those three mammals, got it?"

"Got it, chief." Clawhauser smiled, it was an easy day guarding a crime scene, Judy was being charitable because he was without his partner.

Judy then looked to Nick and the six member of his SWAT team "SWAT are on standby for any calls, I suggest you go down to the firing range and practice. Oh and Wilde, commissioner Bogo is due here in ten minutes, he wants a talk with you, come up to my office ASAP."

"Old buffalo butt wants to see me? Why?" Nick asked, baffled.

"No idea." Judy admitted "Any questions before I send you on your way?"

Aleks, who was sat with the rest of the SWAT team, raised his paw and said "Ma'am."

"Yes Rojek?" Judy asked, unable to hide her smile at the fox she hoped would be her future son in law.

"I need to speak to both you and Captain Wilde." Aleks replied, sounding formal.

"Sure thing, head up to the office with your captain, we'll talk in a few minutes I just have to make a call. Ok everyone; dismissed." Judy ordered and everyone filed out of the bullpen, including Nick and Aleks who were walking side by side and had the same destination; Judy's office.

Nick glanced at Aleks and noticed a small smirk resting upon his grey muzzle, this caught Nick unawares, for the last 24 hours Aleks had been somewhat of a nervous wreck around him but now the young cop had a content smirk showing, this irked Nick and he asked in quiet but hostile manner "What are you smiling about?"

"Well if you must know Captain, it's because I learnt something last night." Aleks replied, unfazed by Nick's stinging tone. "When me and Luna arrived back at our place, she said she was proud of you for not acting like, and this is her words, a total dick. Don't worry I didn't tell her about your threat but then she told me something that made me smile."

"Enlighten me." Nick pressed with distain, the two foxes walking up the staircase towards Judy's office.

"Luna told me the story of when she first went to Bunnyburrow not long after her birth mother passed away, she told me how the chief's mother didn't like you and Judy being in love, but in the end she came round to the idea. Well that made me think of you captain." Aleks explained.

"The story is about me." Nick shot down.

"No, you're mistaken sir," Aleks gave a very vulpine grin "the way you've been acting is a lot like how your mother in law did."

Nick stopped in his tracks, that sentence actually hurt…because it was true. The sentence struck a nerve in the police captain but instead of admitting it was true he countered with "Me and carrots we're dealing with Bonnie's prejudice against inters, she was being stubborn, petty and unwilling to change."

"You mean the way you treated me yesterday?" Aleks threw back.

Nick tried to remain stoic but Aleks could clearly see the shame on his face "I…" Nick started but he had no reply.

"Listen Nick," Aleks began, making sure to use his superior's first name "I love your daughter and I know she loves me back, and whether you like it or not we're going to keep courting, so you can even support us and be part of her life or keep acting the way you are and lose Luna, it's your call."

Nick stood silent for a moment, his mind conflicted, part of him wanted to punch the snot out of the rookie but deep down Nick knew Aleks was speaking the truth "I'm sorry." He said, feeling humbled.

"It's ok," Aleks accepted before adding with a smiling whisper "and just so you know if you ever put an arrowhead against my throat again be rest assured I'll be pointing my gun at your crotch."

The two foxes stared at one another for a moment before bursting into laughter "Message received Rojek." Nick chuckled, he hated to admit it but his respect for Aleks just grew a little.

"What's this?" A puzzled voice asked, the two SWAT cops turned to see a baffled Judy looking up at them "Are you two actually getting along?"

"Let's call it a ceasefire fluff." Nick replied.

Judy seemed pleased with this news, she looked at Aleks and asked "So what did you need to talk with us about?"

"It's actually a social matter," Aleks revealed "my parents have been wanting to visit Zootopia for some time now but with the damage to the Airport in the earthquake they won't be able to get a flight from Poland for four or five weeks."

"Sorry to hear that." Judy sympathised.

"But me and Luna were talking and we thought it'd be nice if our two families met, would that be ok?" Aleks proposed.

"That sounds great!" Judy answered, a little two enthusiastically.

"I don't mean to rain on your parade but do your folks know that we're an inter couple?" Nick asked cautiously.

Alek's smile dropped as he spoke his realisation "I didn't even think of that but don't worry I've never known them to be prejudice."

"You best tell them before they come to America, it might be a bit of a shock otherwise ." Judy advised.

"I will, now I must head down to the armoury." Aleks ended the conversation politely before saluting his superiors before walking off.

"Ugh that kid needs to quit it with the saluting." Nick groaned, as he watched Aleks descend the stairs.

"Never mind that," Judy said with a curious smile "how come you're not trying to throttle Rojek anymore?"

"…He told me some home truths, I guess I have been an asshole with this whole situation." Nick admitted.

"Dumb fox." Judy said with warmth before grabbing Nick by his tie and pulling him down into a kiss.

"AHEM!" A loud clearing of the throat ruined the romantic moment, Nick and Judy ended their kiss and saw Commissioner Bogo staring down at them "Public displays of affection between officers is forbidden in the precinct building." He said in his default grumpy voice.

"Is that so?" Nick smiled smugly in response "I seem to remember quite a few incidents of you and Clawhauser kissing before you got promoted to city hall."

Bogo looked embarrassed at this response and quickly changed the subject "Chief Wilde can you join me and your infuriating husband for this meeting? You should know about this to."

"Um, sure. Is there something wrong?" Judy asked back, sounding a little nervous.

"It depends on what you think about what I have to say." Bogo answered, walking into his old office with Nick and Judy following. Bogo sat in one of the guest chairs whilst Judy took her usual seat behind her desk.

Nick shut the door and asked "So what's this about Mason?" Knowing it was fine to use first names when it wasn't in front of the other officers.

"I had a meeting with some city councilmen and the governor last night, to discuss holding a snap mayoral election in a few weeks. The governor along with myself were hoping that one of the councilmen would throw their hat in and declare themselves a nominee, no one did." Bogo elaborated.

"So Zootopia's still without a leader." Judy sighed.

"And the Governor can't run things in the city forever, California is a big state and he's responsible for more than Zootopia." Bogo underlined. "So we started discussing a nominee who had no experience in politics."

"Ha!" Nick laughed "What kind of idiot would want to be mayor at a time like this?"

"Actually Nick we were kind of hoping you would be that idiot." Bogo answered.

"Me!?" Nick scoffed with disbelief.

"Nick as mayor?" Judy half laughed, feeling the same sense of bewilderment as her mate.

"What Zootopia needs now is hope and heart, you represent both of those Nick." Bogo attempted to persuade "The 'Heart of Sherwood' video has made you a symbol of unity in these troubled times, plus you're a cop with seventeen years service under your belt and let's not forget you helped solve the Night Howler case even before you were a cop."

"Before I was a cop I was a hustler, the only reason I don't have a rap sheet is plain dumb luck," Nick replied sounding doubtful "no one is going to vote for an inter fox."

"But Nick you could be the first Fox mayor of this city, I mean you were the first fox officer." Judy stated, seeing Bogo's point.

"I don't know…why don't you go for it Mason?" Nick deflected.

"I'm not really overflowing with charm, I scare most mammals." Bogo answered honestly "You have the charm to make speeches, you have the leadership skills to steer this city in the right direction and you've got a knowledge of this city unlike any mammal I know…I think you can do this."

"But I can't run for mayor, I don't even have the money to campaign." Nick dodged.

"Not a problem, the governor has a surplus in his campaign account, he can front your expenses." Bogo offered a solution.

"Look I….I need some time to think about this." Nick said, feeling overwhelmed.

"Of course, sleep on it, but we need an answer and soon." Bogo replied, getting up and exiting in the office leaving Nick and Judy to think about this seemingly life changing decision.

000

Kion Priderock entered through the front door of his home and could hear the sound of TV from the living room, the door was slightly ajar and he could see his mother drinking a cup of coffee and watching some dumb reality show. Kion said a quick "Hey." Before heading to the kitchen.

"Hey," Nala replied, sounding drained "weren't you supposed to be volunteering until after six?"

"It got cancelled, the place was robbed and it's been declared a crime scene." Kion answered, walking into the kitchen and accidentally bumping into his Dad who was getting some ingredients out of a cupboard "Sorry."

"It's alright." Simba replied, setting the ingredients on the counter, the lion then spotted a leaflet on the floor by his son's feet "Hey you dropped something." He then crouched down to pick it up.

"Wait-" Kion panicked, trying in vain to stop his father reading the leaflet.

The leaflet had the stars and stripes covering it with the words 'Join the US army' in bold black letters "The army? Kion, please tell me you're not thinking about this."

"Dad, I graduate soon and this a great option." Kion manoeuvred.

Nala had overheard the words and stated harshly "You're not signing up."

"But Mom..." Kion began to reason.

"No buts, I forbid you from signing up." Nala shot down bitterly.

"I'm 18, I can sign up without your permission." Kion defied causing Nala's scowl to grow.

"What about college, you've applied for law school, what happened to becoming a district attorney?" Simba questioned, sounding more worried than angry.

"That's still my plan, I do two years in the army and I can have enough money to fund myself through college." Kion pitched.

"You're lying," Nala glowered, getting in Kion's face "I can always tell when my cubs are lying to me. What's the real reason?"

"…Kiara." Kion confessed, feeling under pressure from his mother's stare.

"Not this again," Simba sighed sadly "Kion the army is hiding nothing about Kiara."

"How can you not see it? The base was not affected by the tsunami, it is too far inland. Kiara left here three hours before the wave hit and yet she somehow disappears without a trace." Kion argued. "If I join up I might finally get some answers."

"Here's your answer; your sister is dead, let her rest." Nala said bluntly with tears in her eyes.

"I know it's hard to accept but she's gone Kion, like the millions of others." Simba supplemented with a mourning tone.

"Why are you two giving up on her so easily!?" Kion crowed, his frustration clear in his voice.

"You think this easy for us?" Simba cried "This has been the hardest thing we've been through!"

"Hard? All you've done since Kiara went missing is sit around the house moping, you didn't go out searching for her, I did. Who had the guts to call the barracks and ask them about Kiara? Me. Who has never stopped believing that's she is out there somewhere, me!" Kion yelled, squaring up to his old man.

"Don't you talk your father like that!" Nala scolded.

"And you're just as bad!" Kion fired back "Both of you were so quick to decide that she was dead…Kiara would be ashamed of you two."

With that last string of words made Nala snap, in a flash of anger she lashed out and threw a fist into Kion's nose sending the teen tumbling to the ground with both nostrils streaming blood. At first Kion thought he was dreaming, Nala had never hit either of her cubs ever, yet the thumping pain and warm blood trickling from his nose confirmed this was reality.

Nala looked mortified at what she had done, she was trembling. Simba's face displayed his utter shock at the act of violence. Nala began to panic and wept "Kion I d-didn't…" she reached out to touch him but Kion bolted up and barged past his parents with his nose still bleeding and his heart breaking.

"KION!" Simba called after his son as the teen lion charged out the front door.

"….what have I done?" Nala uttered still weeping, feeling a worse pain in her heart than any punch to the face.

Kion was running for a solid ten minutes, with the blood from his nose drying into the fur of his muzzle and his eyes itchy and stinging from crying, he ignored the weird looks he was receiving from mammals he ran by. After a while though, his muscles began to ache and he became short of breath due to his crying, he came to a standstill in front of convenience store and put his paws on his knees trying to catch his breath. "I hate them." Kion cried to himself, he then clenched his paws and repeated "I hate them." Before inhaling deeply and letting a powerful roar erupt from his mouth, it lasted for a moment then Kion fell silent with only his woe and tears to keep him company.

"Hey you." A voice barked, Kion's vision focused on the voice, in the doorway of the shop was a female spotted hyena in her late teens, she was dressed in a pair of jeans and the green polo shirt uniform of the convenience store. Her fur was grey with large black spots, her mane was jet black with purple streaks running though her luscious hair, she had big beautiful blue eyes and just radiated allure. The hyena didn't notice the blood at first, no the first thing this beauty saw was the tears in the Kion's brown eyes and she instantly asked "You ok buddy?"

"S-sorry." Kion stammered, looking away from the hyena, he felt like crap, he looked like crap and right now he didn't want to talk to any mammal, especially a very attractive girl.

"Do you want to come inside, clean yourself up?" The Hyena offered, walking over to Kion.

"I don't want to be a bother." Kion responded, avoiding eye contact.

The Hyena put a gentle paw on Kion's arm "Look dude, it's seems you're in the need of a cup of coffee and Kleenex for your nose, so come on in."

Kion finally met the gaze of the kind hearted girl, she had such a caring look in her eyes and he was in such need of comfort he just sniffed "Ok."

The Hyena guided Kion into the store while saying "My name's Jasiri, what's yours red?"

"Kion." He replied, wiping away some of his tears and wishing that he was meeting this hyena under much better circumstances.

000

The unlikely trio of wannabe heroes had converged at Kodi's home on the Savannah Central/Meadowlands border. Kodi had driven to both Hannah and Robyn's places for them to collect some stuff for their crazy plan of going against the razors. Kodi parked the truck in a garage that he rented a few blocks away from his house to avoid any awkward questions from his parents. Kodi's home was actually a mansion built in the early 1900s which Gazelle bought early in her music career it had fifteen bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a large dining room, a gym, a newly built music studio, a pool, a games room and beautifully maintained gardens.

Hannah who carrying a large holdall bag took in the smell of the garden as they walked up the driveway "The flowers smell beautiful." Hannah sighed happily, her heightened senses made her appreciate the smell more.

"Yeah Mama loves the garden, she writes most of her music while chilling out here." Kodi commented.

"So are we sure it's ok to hold our strategy meeting here? Won't your parents and sister get suspicious." Robyn asked, sounding unsure. Her regular rucksack was slung on her shoulder full of supplies.

"Don't worry about my family, my parents are going out of town tonight for some charity art show and Sasha is going to a sleepover at a friend's place. We'll just tell a white lie to them." Kodi assured.

"White lie?" Hannah sniggered, her cane hitting the steps up to the door. "We're planning to rob from a ruthless gang."

"Just wing it," Kodi brushed off "you've both got fox blood, so be sly."

"Hey that's a negative stereotype." Robyn huffed.

"Oh please you call a horny wolf all the time." Kodi parried, putting his paw on the scanner for the high tech security system, the front door unlocked with a female computerized voice saying 'Welcome Home Kodi'

Kodi opened the large front door to find his father Wade dressed in his usual attire of jeans and one of his many red hoodies, he was stood checking something on his phone with two suitcases by him. "Hey Dad." Kodi greeted warmly.

"Oh hey," Wade smiled looking up from his phone "I didn't realise Hannah and Robyn were coming over."

"Hi Mr. Jones." Hannah said brightly, setting her holdall down.

"Hey." Robyn added with a little wave.

"You guys staying the night?" Kodi asked, looking at the girls' bags.

"Yeah since I've got the place to myself tonight I thought why not have a video game marathon like when we were kids." Kodi lied way too easily.

"Video games? Ummm…" Wade wanted to say something but felt awkward.

Hannah twigged on what he must be thinking and put him out the black wolf out of his misery "I can't see the tv but it'll be nice just to hang out."

"Was I that obvious?" Wade sighed, feeling terrible "How are you both feeling? I haven't seen you girls since we came to visit you in the hospital."

"Fighting fit." Robyn smiled, holding up her right arm and flexing her muscles.

"Meh I'm blind but at least I get this cool cane to whack Kodi with." Hannah joked, lightly swatting Kodi with her cane.

"Hey watch it." Kodi whined.

"Oh don't be such a cry baby." A voice teased, Kodi and Robyn looked up to see Gazelle and Sasha coming down the stairs together, the graceful pop star was dressed in a casual white blouse and blue skirt while Sasha was dressed in a simple red summer dress with her SLR camera around her neck.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Kodi complained to his mother.

"You need toughening up Mijo." Gazelle replied with a wink.

"Kodi can be tough." Sasha spoke up for her brother.

"Thank you," Kodi smiled, going over and ruffling the fur atop his sister's head "at least someone loves me."

"So Kodi said you two are off to some art show?" Robyn asked the Joneses.

"It's in San Diego," Wade answered "there's going to be an auction of artwork to raise money for the disaster relief fund for Zootopia."

"And my favourite artist is going to be there, Chris Peters, I love his work so much." Gazelle gushed.

"Isn't he that fox guy from Europe?" Hannah queried.

"That's him, he's actually a really down to earth guy, came from a working class background so he's humble with his success." Wade revealed.

Hannah then could sense someone standing in front of her, from the height of the person she assumed it was Sasha "You ok Sasha?" Hannah asked.

"Uh yeah, I was just wondering if I could ask you something." Sasha mumbled, sounding nervous.

"Sure, ask away." Hannah allowed.

"Can I take a picture of your eyes?" Sasha requested with awkwardness coating her words.

"Sasha!" Gazelle and Wade yelled in unison, feeling the question was insensitive.

"I don't mind." Hannah eased the angry parents.

"Really?" Sasha smiled "Thank you Hannah, I'm doing a project about people whose lives were changed by the wave and well…you've had a big change."

"That's an understatement." Hannah giggled "Go ahead, snap away."

Sasha turned on her camera and took four shots of just Hannah's crystal blue but still eyes before taking a few whole body shots with Hannah holding her cane "Thanks, these will really help with my project."

Gazelle finally took note of Robyn and Hannah's bags and queried "You girls stopping the night?"

"Yeah we're going to have old fashioned video game fest." Robyn fibbed.

"Oh…" Gazelle sounded, appearing conflicted.

"What's the problem Mama?" Kodi asked, noticing the strange look on her face.

"Listen I'm a very liberal mammal but…" Gazelle opened.

"But?" Kodi, Robyn and Hannah asked back in unison.

"Girls I know you two are dating and when you're a teenager you want to try new things but can I ask you not to sleep in the same room as each other tonight, you are still minors and too young for that stuff yet." Gazelle said, trying to be a responsible parent.

"Stuff?" Robyn mumbled before realising what Gazelle meant "W-what!? No, we wouldn't do 'That'!"

"We've only be dating a short time." Hannah added, the skin under her fur was hot with embarrassment.

"Oh for the love of…" Wade groaned, putting his hood up, hardly believing his wife had said such an embarrassing thing.

"We're not at that point yet." Robyn babbled, hiding her embarrassed face with her long ears.

"Mamá, ¿qué diablos? ¿Por qué dijiste eso? ¡Por supuesto que no tendrán sexo bajo nuestro techo!" " _Mama what the heck!?"_ Kodi blurted out in Spanish " _Why did you say that? Of course they're not going to have sex under our roof?"_

"Lo harías si tuvieras una loba alrededor." _"You would if you had a she wolf around."_ Gazelle justified, in her mother tongue.

"No son como yo, se aman y se respetan" " _They aren't like me, they love and respect each other."_ Kodi argued.

" _So if mammals love each other they don't have sex? I'm confused."_ Sasha chimed in, also in Spanish.

"¡Eres demasiado joven para hablar de sexo!" _"You are way too young to be talking about sex!"_ Kodi replied quickly.

"And for once I'm glad I can't speak Spanish." Wade grimaced.

"Amen." Hannah agreed, noticing that Robyn's heart rate was like a jackhammer with her super powered sense of hearing.

Fifteen minutes later after some awkward farewells the three friends were in the games room ready to discuss the plan, Kodi had put his laptop on the edge of the poker table so they could begin their plan. Robyn fished out a USB stick and passed it to Kodi "Plug this in, but make sure you disconnect from the internet before you open it in case it's traced." She instructed.

"What's on here?" Kodi asked, doing as he was told.

"It's my Dad's ZPD SWAT files." Robyn answered.

"What!?" Hannah barked "Are you nuts? You just stole police documents."

"Relax babe, my Dad leaves this laying around the apartment all the time, he won't notice that it's gone." Robin alleviated "Last week I heard my Dad say to my Mom about a cancelled raid on the Razors' compound because of a problem with a warrant, he was complaining that he made a perfect plan as well, I bet that infiltration strategy is on this drive."

Kodi typed at a few keys and smiled "There it is; Operation dull razor." Kodi opened up the file and there was a schematic of the Razor compound which was in fact an old scrap yard. There was a heavily guarded main gate but there was a hole in the fence by one of the storage sheds, which was marked with red letters 'Intelligence states drugs, stolen goods and firearms are stored here.' "That shed is our main target."

"It also says we've got two guards on the door." Robyn grumbled "We're going to have to take care of them quietly so the alarm isn't raised."

"Then we grab the medicine and hightail out of there." Kodi reminded. "We're only there for the meds."

"But in case things get loud, I brought an old friend along." Hannah smiled, going over to her bag, unzipping it and pulling out a shotgun.

"What the hell is that!?" Kodi squawked.

"It's my shotgun from my sport shooting days." Hannah answered, resting the gun on her shoulder.

"We can see that, the real question why in the hell do you have a gun? We're not going to kill them!" Robyn blasted.

"It's loaded with rock salt shells, it will stun them and hurt like a bitch, but it won't kill them." Hannah smiled "I've still got my aim and I got a satchel of thirty extra shells if I need them."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Kodi willed "so what are we going to do about our identities? If they go back to the community centre they'll spot us right away."

"That's why I got these," Robyn replied, rummaging through her rucksack and pulling out three black ski masks complete with extra holes for big ears "ta-da!"

"Dude you think those will work?" Kodi asked dubiously. "Our ears are going to stick through them."

"You got any better ideas?" Robyn sassed.

"…Nope." Kodi conceded, praying that luck would be on their side tonight.

000

Marian Wilde had been busy since she found out Phelps arms was reverse engineering Olivia's technology for their own twisted agenda, she had found one of their other labs hidden in plain sight in the rainforest district not far from a police station, the lab had been bought through dummy corporations but the paper trail led back to Phelps arms. Marian had hacked into the lab's security camera feed with ease and could see that they were indeed working on Olivia's elixir technology. But to Marian's surprise though she had spotted flight lieutenant Ray Kamino snooping around the lab grounds before going in and asking at the front desk about security guards jobs while planting his own surveillance equipment, it appeared that the white tiger and his fellow Camelot operatives were planning to raid the place pretty soon which meant Spitfire had to get there first and destroy whatever remained of the elixir tech so it couldn't fall into the wrong hands.

Olivia who was dressed in the jumpsuit she usually wore when piloting the Spitfire mech was sitting with Marian and Robin senior in the observation deck of the bunker keeping a close eye on the lab's cctv, she was sipping a cup of tea, with a load of sugar stirred in and relaxing before the mission "This should be a piece of cake."

"Don't jinx it." Robin sr warned.

"You always were superstitious." Marian bantered.

"Can you blame me? Half of a thief's success depends on luck." Robin sr. replied.

"Look as soon as we get this tech back we can focus on searching for Kiara, even if we just find her body her family deserves to know what happened to her." Olivia interjected, this whole op felt way too personal.

"Do you think she's dead?" Marian asked the hard question.

Olivia sighed before answering "I saw her get crushed by a building but when I went back there the next day I couldn't a trace of her, not even blood. For that reason alone I think she's alive."

"I hope your right, even if she did steal from you I always liked Kiara." Robin sr said solemnly.

Marian was about to agree with the old thief when she noticed something another monitor, it was the screen displaying Hannah and Robyn's steel blood data but she was more specifically looking at the GPS data that was on screen "What the?" before gliding over on the wheeled desk chair to take a closer look, the girls were in Sherwood more specifically the wrong part of Sherwood where the infamous Razors had set up shop. "You got to be kidding me." Marian snarled, pulling the keyboard towards her and hacking the street traffic cams to see three figures in ski masks getting out of a pick up truck, one of them was carrying a shotgun. "Olivia you need to get to Sherwood now!"

"Why what's wrong?" Olivia wondered, looking over at the screen.

"Robyn and her friends are about to do something that'll get them killed." Marian growled.

000

Hannah had left her cane in the truck, truth be told she didn't need it she only used it to keep up the appearance of a normal blind girl instead of a super powered blind girl. She gripped her shotgun and felt a warm sense of nostalgia, it felt good to hold a gun again, even if she was unlikely to fire it. "Here we are." Robyn whispered, her large lapin ears sticking out of the ski mask.

"Hannah can you sense the hole in the fence?" Kodi asked with low volume, his ski mask was a tad too small for his face.

"Yeah I can feel no static." Hannah confirmed.

"Ok I'll head in first, then it's you babe and Kodi you bring up the rear. Stay low and keep quiet." Robyn relayed instructions, both Hannah and Kodi nodded signalling Robyn to crawl through the hole. She kept crawling on her stomach for ten or so meters before coming up on the right side of the storage room. Luckily it was dark enough for the teens to go unnoticed but at the door under a bright light were two guards one a leopard and the other a porcupine dressed in the Razors' gang colours of grey both of them had submachine guns on show, however they were both distracted with a youtube video on the leopard's phone. A quick idea formed in Robyn's mind before she whispered to Hannah and Kodi "Stay down, I'm going to take care of these two."

And before the others could protest Robyn launched herself with her powerful legs with both paws outstretched, in a fraction of a second she took both henchmen's heads and slammed against the metal door of the shed knocking them out. "Come on." Robyn signalled to Hannah and Kodi, as she searched the two unconscious men for a key which she found in the leopard's back pocket.

"I'll keep an eye out for any Razors, you grab the meds." Kodi uttered, grabbing the guards' guns and throwing them away in case they awoke.

"Ok." Robyn concurred, unlocking the door, opening it and…"Ugh." Was the sound coming from Robyn's lips, she didn't feel that much pain but she could see an Armadillo garbed in Razors colours with a machete in one hand, her bulging navy eyes looked to where that machete was pointing, it had pierced her through the chest and gone through her back with blood oozing from her.

"Little bitch trying to steal from us!" The Armadillo bellowed.

Robyn just did a tutting sound, shoved the armadillo into the wall winding him before Robyn unsheathed the machete from it's bleeding scabbard and letting fall to the floor. The hole in her chest sealed up in the blink of an eye as Robyn smirked "Watch who you're calling a bitch."

"W-what the hell are you freak?" The Armadillo garbled, terrified at what he was seeing. Hannah rushed in and aimed her shotgun at the gang member's unarmoured face, putting further fear into the Razor.

"I'm a zombie." Robyn jested "And I'm going to eat your brain if you don't hand me all the meds you've stolen."

Hannah could smell rubbing alcohol and the chalky scent of pills coming from a chest in the corner of the room, she dropped her empty holdall on the floor "Open that trunk and put all the medicine in there." She ordered.

"Y-y-you can't rob this, we'll find you, we'll kill you." The armadillo reacted with fright.

"You can't kill what can't die." Robyn growled, baring her claws in a threatening manner. "Now open the trunk ass wipe!"

"Ok, ok." The Armadillo caved in, going over to the chest and opening it, he grabbed the holdall and started scooping boxes upon boxes of prescription drugs into the bag.

"Faster." Hannah threatened before turning to say to Kodi in the doorway "How's it looking out there?"

But as soon as Hannah turned to ask this question the armadillo pulled out a hidden handgun from the chest and was about to fire it at Hannah, she heard him flip the safety off and quickly dodged the bullet as he pulled the trigger, Hannah reacted by fire a round of rock salt into his abdomen, causing him to fall back and wail in pain "Shit!" Hannah cursed, picking up the hand gun putting the safety back on and tucking it in the back of her jeans.

"We have to get out of here, the others would've heard those shots!" Robyn panicked, picking up the holdall of meds.

"Uh guys?" Kodi gulped "We got company." Before running inside the shed to join his friends.

Robyn looked outside to see a dozen members of the Razors approaching them, armed to the teeth and had murder in mind "Oh this is just great." Robyn moaned, desperately trying to figure out a way to get her, Hannah and Kodi out of this alive.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! How are the gang going to get out of this one!? What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on Star Of Ceartais Robyn learns some surprising family secrets, Kion defies his parents and a another hero is brought into the fold. Please Review and C YA SOON!)


	10. The Star Rises

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. As always thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. Thank you to the awesome SOC development team for their story ideas, beta reading and art that they devolp for this tale. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 9 – The Star Rises**

Robyn looked outside to see a dozen members of the Razors approaching them, armed to the teeth and had murder in mind "Oh this is just great." Robyn moaned, desperately trying to figure out a way to get her, Hannah and Kodi out of this alive.

"We need to get out here!" Hannah stated with force, detecting the shapes of the dozen or so enemies and the smell of the oil coming from their guns.

Kodi looked at the metallic door and a strategy quickly materialised in his brain "Robyn can you tear this door of it's hinges?"

"Yeah, but what's the play?" Robyn asked, all the while yanking the steel door from it's frame.

"We're going to use it to shield us from gunfire then slowly back out towards the hole in the fence." Kodi laid out "if they get too close Hannah can shoot them, got it?"

Hannah cocked her shotgun and breathed "Got it."

"Alright let's do this." Robyn rallied, lifting the heavy door and taking point as she led her friend's out of the shed, as soon as she stepped outside bullets started raining down on the makeshift shield. "Damn it!"

The gunfire stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of three sets of rushed footfalls coming towards them, Hannah popped out from behind the shield and detected three medium sized mammals racing towards them, she fired off a rock salt shot that struck a badger in the chest causing him to fall to the ground with a large cry of agony, Hannah quickly pumped the shotgun again and fired another round at a raccoon wielding a dagger stunning him. Kodi spotted a goat with a tire iron coming at him and dodged the swiping swing before cracking him with a solid punch to the jaw sending the goat into unconsciousness.

"Shoot those little bastards!" A bull Rhino bellowed, signalling his lackeys to continue firing. Hannah and Kodi hastily retreated back behind the makeshift shield Robyn was holding as she was slowly and steadily eased back towards their exit point.

"This door isn't going to last much longer!" Robyn yelled in alarm, noticing a few bullets starting to come through the metal, narrowly missing the trio.

"Just a little more!" Kodi encouraged, able to see the hole. But then the sound of gunfire was masked by what sounded like a jet engine, everyone including the Razors looked up to see Spitfire soaring thirty feet above them before landing between the would be heroes and the Razors. "Oh my god." Robyn uttered in amazement "It's him."

"Spitfire!" Kodi gasped "Holy crap he really is a robot!"

"No," Hannah cut in "it's a machine mostly but I can hear a heartbeat, it's small but it's in there."

Spitfire raised it's arms and revealed it's concealed rapid fire tranq dart guns before saying through a heavily modified voice "Let these brats go and I won't hurt you."

"Fat chance tin can, they took what was ours!" The Rhino leader threw back.

"Which you took from someone else," Spitfire reminded "now stand down before I put you all down."

"I'd like to see you try." The Rhino blustered, holding a large crowbar.

"Gladly." Spitfire replied, before shooting it's twin lasers out of the mech's eyes, the red beams hitting the crowbars and heating it up in an instant causing the Rhino to burn his hands and drop it with a scream. The remaining Razors began to shoot at the mech, she shot a trio of darts with all three hitting the targets before electrifying her fists and leaping the others, delivering knockout blow after knockout blow, when she got to the Rhino who now cowering in fear she twirled and forced her powerful mechanized tail into the gang leader's face rendering him unconscious. Spitfire then powered down her electro fists and made her tranq guns disappear back into her arms, she then turned around ready to berate Robyn, Hannah and Kodi…but they weren't there. "Spitfire to Maid, I've lost sight of Robyn and the others." Spitfire spoke into her comm.

 **"They fled while you were fighting, they're in a pick up truck travelling west,** " Marian responded over the radio " **Oh crap, they've got a car and two bikes chasing them they must be Razors!"**

"I'll take care of them don't worry." Spitfire promised before blasting off into the evening sky.

Half a mile away Kodi was tearing down the streets of Sherwood dodging and surviving around other cars to avoid the pursuers. "These guys are tenacious, I'll give them that." Kodi gave a nervous laugh as he narrowly dodged a city bus, but one of the bikes clipped it and the razor went flying onto the pavement "One down."

"Kodi we need to get away from crowded areas, someone innocent might get hurt!" Robyn shouted, looking out the back window.

"I'm working on it!" Kodi barked, maintaining his speed.

Hannah took a deep breath before rolling down the passenger window "Robyn hold onto to my waist."

"What? Why?" Robyn stressed.

Hannah got out the handgun she looted from the Armadillo earlier and flicked the safety off before saying "I'm going to shoot out that guy's tires." She began leaning out of the window with Robyn's paws tightly gripped around her waist, she could sense the muscle car chasing them, the density of the metal body was the clearest but she could also detect the thinner rubber of the tires, she lined up her shot and fired, the bullet found it's mark perfectly as the right front tire burst causing the muscle car to spin out of control and hit a fire hydrant. "That's two down!" Hannah shouted, going back into the cab of the truck. But before the three friends could figure out a way to deal with the final gang member on the bike Spitfire swooped down and lifted the possum off his bike and toss him into a tree.

"He's back!" Robyn panicked as Spitfire carefully landed in the back of the truck, causing the the suspension to shake quite a bit.

"Pull over!" Spitfire commanded in it's synthesised tone.

"We're the good guys!" Robyn responded holding up her hands to show she had no weapons.

"I don't care, find a quiet spot and pull the hell over!" Spitfire ordered.

"Guys we best do what he says." Kodi said begrudgingly, the two girls lowered their heads in defeat and started thinking about the monumental amount of trouble they were in.

Kodi pulled into the grounds of a warehouse ruined during the Wave and turned off the engine, the three teens got out of the car with their stomachs turning with dread. "Take off those masks, you all look stupid." Spitfire bossed, getting out of the back of the truck, the mech was just slightly taller than Kodi but a lot more intimidating.

"Hey these protect our identities." Robyn protested, pointing to her ski mask.

"Oh really…Robyn Wilde." Spitfire stated "Hannah Savage and Kodi Jones."

"We're dead." Kodi whimpered, wondering how his parents would react.

"How did you…" Robyn began to ask.

"Let's just say a little bird told me who you fools are," Spitfire scorned "and besides two of you are hybrids, any bad guy only has to do a furbook search to find out who you two are."

"We were only trying to help." Hannah reasoned, taking off her mask "To be like you. We were taking back the medicine they stole from the community centre."

"I'm a walking tank, what makes you…." Spitfire began to shout but then realised "wait a sec, you're blind yet I saw you use that gun, and that shotgun back at the junkyard."

"It's complicated." Hannah dodged.

"Listen Spitfire you're not the only hero anymore, we can help." Robyn argued, pulling off her ski mask along with Kodi.

"Oh yeah, so what can you do apart from mouth off?" Spitfire asked critically.

"Well if you must know." Robyn smirked, setting down the holdall full of meds before propelling herself thirty feet into the air with a jump then landing back on the ground with no trouble. "And that's only one of my powers."

Spitfire was quiet for a moment, inside the mech Olivia was gobsmacked, project steel blood had really altered Hannah and Robyn's bodies, the scientist in her wanted to ask a multitude of questions but she decided to play it cool and continued onto Kodi "And what about you?"

"I'm the getaway driver." Kodi answered, a little embarrassed that he had no gifts to show off.

Spitfire then looked at the bag of meds and quickly made a decision "Here's what's going to happen I'm going to drop these meds back to the community centre, then we're going to go to my place and have a serious chat." Spitfire informed.

"Wait so we're not in trouble?" Robyn asked with hope.

"Oh no you're in trouble all right but not with your folks, I think it's time you met the Maid." Spitfire corrected, picking up the holdall full of prescription drugs.

000

Kion was stood across the street from the army recruitment centre still debating whether or not this was the best decision for him to take, his mind was divided into three; option one was to go inside and sign up then hopefully uncover what happened to his sister, option two was to go back to the Priderock family home and try and forgive his parents but he wasn't ready for that and the third option, well that option was only shown to him a couple of hours before…

TWO HOURS EARLER…

Kion walked into the quiet convenience store with Jasiri the good Samaritan hyena beside him, Kion was mentally kicking himself for bothering a complete stranger with his problems but at the same time he wanted comfort even it was off someone he didn't know, Kion would've preferred it though if Jasiri wasn't so distractingly divine. Kion was not very open when it came to his preferences in mammals he was attracted to, it wasn't that he was ashamed he was just private when he came to matters of romance…not that he had ever had a girlfriend. He knew from age twelve that he was an inter, he found girls of opposite species more alluring than lionesses but he never acted upon these feelings, his first major crush was a springbok girl in his eighth grade class but he was always chickened out before trying to ask her out. And now at eighteen he was still as inexperienced as he was back then despite being very handsome, with any girl he liked he always thought they were out of his league. Kion stole a glance at the bewitching hyena and felt the heat under his fur rise, she had a natural beauty that couldn't be hidden even with the tacky convenience store uniform, her two top shiny white fangs just protruded with a slight overbite but Kion found that rather cute and the perfume she was wearing reminded Kion of blackcurrants. "Steve I'm taking my fifteen minute break now." Jasiri informed the very bored looking teenage ram at the counter messing around on his phone.

"Sure, take your time, isn't like we're swamped today." Steve the ram replied, not looking up from his phone's screen.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Jasiri urged Kion, her voice had a happy bounce to it and her accent was certainly not American but the lion couldn't place it.

"Right." Kion replied in a timid manner, the bloody faced feline was lead around to the staff room.

"Take a seat, I'll get something to get that blood off your face." Jasiri smiled, motioning to an old sofa in the corner.

Kion sat down and hesitantly said "You don't have to do this."

"No I don't but I want to," Jasiri corrected, filling up a bowl of warm water "you seem like you're have a shitty day, I can't just ignore someone when they're like that."

"…Thank you." Kion responded "Your accent it's not local."

"Ten points to you captain obvious." Jasiri chuckled, walking over.

"Sorry I meant to say where are you from?" Kion back peddled.

Jasiri sat beside Kion, set the bowl down on the table and answered "I'm South African, I've lived in the states since I was fourteen." She took a clean wash cloth and dipped it in the warm water.

"You go to school around here?" Kion asked, trying his best not to stare at the pretty girl beside him.

"I graduated high school last year, I'm 19," Jasiri informed, leaning in closer with the cloth "this might hurt."

Kion braced himself for the upcoming pain, as soon as Jasiri started to wipe the blood away from his swollen nose Kion hissed in pain but remained still.

"Damn it takes a lot of force to land this kind of hit on a lion, who did this?" Jasiri enquired.

"My mom." Kion sighed, closing his eyes.

"Your mom did this!?" Jasiri gasped "You should call the cops!"

"She is a cop." Kion said, replaying the confrontation in his head.

"That's even worse, if she's abusive she needs to be stopped." Jasiri fretted, still washing away the blood.

"This was the first time…ever. Even when I was cub she never did this and Dad just stood there and watched." Kion lamented.

"I know it's not my business but what started this?" Jasiri asked with a caring voice.

"My sister, she went missing the night of the wave...things have been bad at home since then." Kion told, unsure of why he was revealing something so private to a mammal he didn't know.

"I'm so sorry," Jasiri sympathised "I can't imagine what that must be like. So what happened to cause this mess?"

"My parents have given up on finding my sister alive but I know she's out there, she was nowhere near the coast when the wave hit, she was at the barracks." Kion answered, unknowingly sounding angry. "I told my parents that Kiara would be ashamed of the two of them, that's when my Mom snapped."

Jasiri put her paw upon Kion's "That sounds horrible." She commented with empathy.

"I hate them." Kion muttered, not registering Jasiri's touch.

"Listen Red, I know I'm just some random mammal you just met but take my advice; don't do anything rash. Sleep on it. I know what your Mom did was wrong but just think before you do something that can't come back from." Jasiri offered her wisdom.

"I can't go home, I'll just end up getting angry." Kion said, his voice weak.

"Then stay at a friend's place or if you're really struggling I know someone looking for a room mate close by, I'll put in a good word for you." Jasiri smiled warmly, as washed away the last speckles of blood "And if you ever need to talk then I know a certain hyena who's a pretty good listener."

Kion smiled for the first time in hours, he had only known this mammal for less than five minutes but Kion could tell that she possessed a caring nature that was hard to find.

NOW…

Kion had left the convenience store about an hour ago and had slowly walked back into the city centre and had rooted himself across the street from the recruitment centre, Jasiri had given him a friendly hug before leaving and reminded him to stop by and talk whenever. The hyena's advice kept repeating in his head 'Sleep on it.', he was beginning to think maybe this whole army idea was foolhardy but the thought of Kiara was stopping him walking away. "Maybe I should ask the others?" Kion asked himself, knowing Robyn, Hannah and Kodi would give him sound counsel on this issue. "I could crash at Kodi's tonight." He thought out loud, reaching for his phone.

ZAAAAAAPPPPPP!

A few seconds of paralysing pain coursed through Kodi's body, his body trembled and his teeth clenched to stop himself screaming before crashing to the ground in an unconscious state. Above Kion's sleeping body was a Sun Bear in black military fatigues and was wearing a baseball cap the wrong way round, in his right hand was a taser and in his left a radio which was brought to his mouth "This is Cloudkicker, I have the subject." He said in a confident manner.

000

Nick and Judy had clocked off from work at the same time, the pair of them drove home chatting normally with Nick purposely avoiding the conversation regarding Bogo's offer of running for mayor, even if Nick wasn't talking about the issue it was clear that it was on his mind, the usual smooth talking, wise cracking vulpine's persona had been substituted with a quiet and deep thinking exterior. The married couple walked into their apartment finding a note from Robyn saying that she was at Kodi's for some 'Video game marathon' this corresponded with a text from Wade Jones earlier, "I'm going to take a shower first ok?" Judy mentioned, she noticed that Nick was lost in his thoughts.

"Um, sure. I'll make us some dinner." Nick replied, thinking that preparing a meal might take his mind off of the situation. As Judy trotted off to the bathroom Nick went to the fridge and gathered some ingredients for a Spanish omelette with a beetroot salad on the side. Nick decided to prepare the salad first and as he was chopping the veggies his mind cycled back to the possibility of becoming mayor _I can't be mayor, I don't know how to run a city, I know how to be a cop…but_ and that was the factor there was a 'but' in his thinking, logically he knew becoming mayor would be a stupid idea but what if he did, could he help the city that he loved? Could he be a strong enough leader for the mammals or this city? Could he stay true to himself and not be corrupted by the power? Maybe but the truth was Nick was too scared to find out.

Nick had made very little progress in prepping the salad when he heard Judy's voice speak "Hey Slick."

Nick set the chopping knife down and sighed "Sorry Carrots I'm not in the mood for cooking, how about we order some Indian fo-" Nick turned around and his words ceased as his emerald eyes fell upon the love of his life; there Judith Laverne Wilde stood in the doorway dressed in a Basque with matching knickers and stockings that comp;imented the colour of Judy's amethyst's eyes, Nick's jaw was wide as he tried to soak up every ounce of beauty radiating off the bunny.

Judy stepped over to Nick with a satisfied smile on her face before using her paw to gently close Nick's mouth before saying "We've both had a rough day, you're thinking about stuff too much and Robyn's hanging out at Kodi's so we're alone, let's just forget everything and enjoy ourselves." It wasn't a question, it wasn't an order either, it was a meeting of minds, Nicks lightly laughed at the fact that his sly bunny always knew what he needed.

About an hour or so later Nick and Judy were laying in the bed entangled in one another's arms feeling the warmth of their love with every heartbeat "Damn Fluff…" Nick breathed, treasuring the moment.

"Right back at you, dumb fox." Judy gave a tired smile, nuzzling into Nick's chest.

"I love you." Nick whispered before kissing Judy atop of her head between her ears.

"Love you too." Judy said on impulse "…I think you can do it."

"What?" Nick mumbled.

"I think you can be mayor." Judy affirmed.

"Woah, I thought we were forgetting stuff right now?" Nick replied, sounding slightly nervous.

"No this was what we needed," Judy corrected "I need to ask you something Nick, why don't you think you can be mayor?"

Nick took a moment to gather his thoughts, he knew he couldn't lie to Judy so he had to admit "I'm not good enough."

"Why would you think that?" Judy chastised, resisting the urge to punch Nick in the arm.

"Because I was never always an honest guy, I was a hustler and now the powerful position in the city is up for grabs, can I still be me with all that power?" Nick vented.

"You can Nick, you've changed, you're a good cop and the mammal I love most on this earth, you're confident with everything else, so be confident now." Judy rallied.

"You should be mayor, you've got more brains and leadership skills." Nick deflected.

"True," Judy smirked "but I'm a cop through and through. I won't force you into a decision but just know I'll be in your corner whatever you choose."

"Thanks Carrots." Nick replied with sincerity, his decision now clear.

000

Spitfire had instructed the three wannabe heroes to stay in the pick up truck while she went to the Sherwood community centre and handed over the recovered meds back to a very surprised Alana Clearwater, the doe was too awestruck to properly thank the mechanized vigilante. Spitfire returned to the truck and got into the front passenger seat with Kodi driving and Robyn and Hannah in the back cab, the mech just fitted inside the vehicle. "Head for the Business sector towards the city centre." Spitfire ordered.

"Sure." Kodi complied, half of him nervous and the other half excited.

"So who's this Maid lady? Did she build you?" Robyn enquired, wondering who on earth would be allied with a robot.

"I'm not a robot, this is just a suit." Spitfire corrected.

"I knew it." Hannah nodded in satisfaction, knowing she detected a heartbeat from within the metal powerhouse.

"So is the Maid your boss?" Kodi probed, keeping his eyes on the road.

"No, I guess you could say she's one of my teachers." Spitifire answered.

"Wait someone taught you to be a superhero? Hang on, you said one of your teachers, who are the others?" Robyn dug.

"Enough questions, you'll find out everything once we get to the bunker." Spitfire stated.

"Bunker? Is that your secret base?" Robyn asked further.

"What did I just say?" Spitifre threw back.

The remainder of the journey was in silence with only directions to the bunker being relayed by Spitfire to Kodi, when they came to an alley beside the Dawson tech building Spitfire pressed a button on her arm revealing the opening to the underground roadway to the Bunker. Kodi was amazed by this and obediently drove down the winding tunnel until they reached the bottom. "Home sweet home." Spitfire said wistfully wile everyone piled out of the truck.

"Holy crap!" Kodi gawped as he took in the surroundings.

"It's like a video game." Robyn added, offering her arm to Hannah

"Does it look cool?" Hannah asked, taking a soft hold on her girlfriend's arm.

"It looks awesome." Robyn smiled, briefly forgetting that she was in trouble.

"Come on, let's head to the armoury, I need to get out of my suit." Spitfire beckoned, leading the three teens down a corridor and into a room that made Robyn gasp upon gazing on it. On the left wall there were bows of all shapes and sizes with quiver upon quiver of different arrow types on display, on the right wall was a range of melee weapons including batons, nun chucks and staves along with different types of tranq guns from pistols all the way up to sniper rifles, in the centre of the room were three docking stations with spare Spitfire mechs occupying two of them and on the back wall were four glass cases with mannequins wearing different costumes within.

"Oh my god." Kodi mumbled, stopping himself from grabbing some weapons off the walls and playing with them.

"Let me get out of this thing and I'll explain what this place is." Spitifre said before stepping into the vacant docking station for her mech, the feet locked in then the arms went into slots where power cables automatically went into ports. The suit powered down and the chest cavity opened to reveal Olivia Dawson climbing out of the cockpit.

"Olivia!?" Robyn gasped, completely caught off guard.

"I knew the heartbeat was small but a mouse, that's a surprise." Hannah uttered, sensing Olivia's shape coming out of the mech.

"The Robot Vigilante is a billionaire scientist, it makes so much sense!" Kodi laughed in disbelief. "Also you're female, I thought you were a guy!"

"Can you help me out of this? I don't want to use the ladders." Olivia asked, taking her neural link helmet off.

"Oh sure." Robyn dashed over and offered her paw as a platform.

"Thanks," Olivia complied, stepping onto Robyn's paw "set me on that desk over there." Pointing to a work station with a mouth sized desk on top of it along with a rodent sized fridge full of sweets and sugary drinks.

Robyn brought Olivia over while asking "So all this time you've been Spitfire?"

"Since I was sixteen." Olivia confirmed, hopping down from Hannah's paw and heading straight to the fridge.

"This is so cool, I've got so many questions!" Robyn yipped, sounding hyped.

"Actually we have some questions for you!" A stern voice boomed from the armoury entrance.

Everyone turned around to face the doorway and if the teens had been surprised by Olivia's reveal well nothing could prepare them for the sight of Marian and Robin Senior in this secret base. "You three have got a lot of explaining to do!" Marian seethed, her face like thunder.

"Nana? Granddad?" Robyn mumbled, feeling more confused than intimidated.

"Wait what are you doing here!?" Kodi asked, completely flummoxed.

"Marian is the Maid." Hannah said, sounding sure of herself.

"Bingo," Olivia smiled, opening a can of mountain dew and taking a sip "meet the OG heroes of Zootopia; The Maid and The Hood."

"Heroes? What?" Robyn uttered, trying to piece everything together.

"Line up, all three of you!" Marian boomed, the three would be vigilantes did as they were told in an instance, even if they were perplexed by all this they weren't going to argue with the furious vixen. Once they were lined up Marain marched over and gave all three a sharp clip around the ear, having to jump up to reach Kodi while shouting "You three idiots!"

"Oww.." Kodi groaned, rubbing his sore head.

"Easy my love, they've been through enough tonight." Robin senior said diplomatically.

"They could've been killed." Marian justified her anger.

"Nana, Granddad what's going on? What did Olivia mean when she said you two were heroes?" Robyn questioned, barely feeling the slap around the head.

"Never mind that, what the hell were you doing at the Razors compound?" Marian butted in.

"Taking back the medicine they stole from the community centre." Hannah answered, stepping forward.

"Noble but foolish," Robin senior sighed "you could've died tonight."

"That might be a little hard for Robyn." Kodi couldn't help but say.

"What do you mean?" Robin senior asked, picking up on the odd comment.

"You want to explain this one?" Kodi asked Robyn.

Robyn sighed and went over to the melee weapon wall, picked up a dagger then said cautiously "Try not to freak out."

"Robyn?" Marian sounded, her curiosity overtaking her anger ever so slightly.

Robyn held out her arm and slashed quickly across her forearm causing Robin senior to yell "Why did you do that!?"

"Get the first aid kit!" Olivia barked as blood poured from the hybrid's arm.

"No need." Robyn assured, the wound quickly closed up leaving only excess blood behind.

Marian, Robin Senior and Olivia were dumbstruck by this 'Miracle', the three were silent for a moment until Hannah spoke "Me and Robyn are a little different, we have gifts."

"HOLY SHIT I CREATED SUPER HEROES!" Olivia cheered loudly, dropping her drink. "What are your powers?!"

"As far as I can tell Robyn possess super strength, rapid healing and can jump really high. As for me I can sense objects and mammals around me like static, my other senses are heightened and my reflexes are super quick." Hannah explained, trying her best to be the calm one in this situation.

"Steel Blood did this to you!? I can't believe it, it was only supposed to help you two beat septicaemia and now look at you!" Olivia gushed, her mind on fire with theories.

"Wait I have some questions." Robyn spoke up turning to her grandparents "Why are you two here?"

Marian was still in state of shock upon seeing Hannah's power luckily Robin senior spoke up "We trained Olivia how to fight crime, now we work as her support team."

"But why? How? Who's the Maid and the Hood!?" Robyn babbled.

Robin senior walked over to the four glass cases with mannequins in them, the first one was a blank fox dummy with a green hooded tunic, black pants and gold gauntlets then told with pride in his voice "Years ago a small band of vigilantes stole from the corrupted rich of Zootopia and gave the spoils to the poor, as well as fighting crime and injustice wherever they found it; they were called the Maid Marian gang or MM gang for short."

"Maid Marian?" Robyn repeated, looking at her grandmother "You started a vigilante group?"

"Y-yes." Marian answered, trying to compose herself. "I was the Maid, we fought for justice in the UK before taking refuge in Zootopia and continuing our work of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor."

Hannah who was absorbing all this info had to ask "Do you two have powers?"

"Ha ha ha, no, no such luck." Robin senior "I'm skilled with a bow and Marian is good in a scrap and was the team's hacker."

Kodi stepped over to Robyn and grinned "Dude your grandparents are bad ass."

"This is too much." Robyn moaned, starting to get a headache. The red furred hybrid leant on one of the glass cases and looked at the costume inside. It was a green sneaking suit and judging from the curves it was meant for a vixen, with a small yellow domino mask on the eyes of the mannequin and topped off with a yellow hunter's hat with a red feather sticking out of it. "Is this the Maid's outfit?"

"No." A voice answered from the doorway, Luna Wilde stepped into the room with a nervous expression on her muzzle "It was mine."

"Luna!?" Hannah crowed.

"Great who's next? Are Mr and Mrs Savage going to show up?" Kodi half joked.

Robyn was becoming more and more confused with each passing second, her mind was in a state of paradox she wanted to block everything out while also wanting to know everything. "You're a hero too?" Robyn asked, struggling to keep up with all these revelations.

"Was," Luna answered, walking over to her baby sister "they used to call me Andraste."

"Was? Lu, this is all too crazy." Robyn stressed.

Luna could see the baffled look in Robyn's eyes, her body was tense, her expression was jittery so Luna did what any good sister would do; she pulled Robyn into a hug, after a few seconds Robyn de-tensed and hugged back. "Oh Robbie, there's so much you don't know."

"Then tell me." Robyn willed, still hugging her big sister.

"Ok, it's time you knew the truth about our family." Luna agreed, ready to reveal all to Robyn, Hannah and Kodi.

000

Kion was slipping in and out of conscious, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes but he could hear stuff, at first he could hear the hum of an engine; he must be in a car or a van. Then he could smell a clinical scent that reminded him of a hospital, he could hear a multitude of voices, the beep of a heart monitor, then he felt a needle going into his arm and then nothing…

He managed to open his eyes a few hours later, he felt exhausted and for some reason his lower spine throbbed with pain. With his blurred vision Kion could see he was in a hospital bed, shirtless and chained to the railings on the side, he didn't have the strength to call for help but he did notice the two blurry figures at the foot of his bed. "I must thank you Kit, this subject is perfect for the program." One of them said, it was a female voice which sounded local.

"Happy to oblige Doctor Willis," The figure known as Kit replied, his voice was a deep and confident male voice "was the elixir system installed successfully?"

"It's at the base of his spine to prevent him tampering with it, we shall begin testing his abilities in the morning after we install the control chip in the elixir pump." Willis replied.

"Well if he's anything like his sister the tests should be interesting." Kit commented.

 _What? What did he say?_ Kion's mind flashed.

"Ah yes remember I remember Sergeant Priderock's first transformation, she showed unprecedented skill." Willis added, sounding impressed.

 _Kiara! They know about Kiara! I need to get out of here and find her!_ Kion panicked internally.

"The way she threw that tank, I've never seen anything like it." Kit said with a sense of praise.

"Hopefully her brother can live up to her example." Willis wished "Hang on his heart rate is going up."

Kion snapped open his eyes before growling "W-where is she?" He looked at the figures there was a male sun bear in combat fatigues and wearing a baseball cap while a female pygmy hippo in green surgical scrubs looked at Kion with alarm.

"Is he supposed to be awake yet?" Kit asked, backing away slightly.

"The sedative was meant to last til morning." Willis fretted, running to the drug cabinet to fetch something to put Kion back to sleep.

"Kiara! Where is she!?" Kion bellowed, he felt more awake than ever as he struggled against his bonds.

"Get the drugs Willis or I'm going to get a strike team in here!" Kit yelled, un-holstering his pistol and aiming it at Kion.

Normally Kion would be scared but right now his body felt on fire, his muscles felt like they were going to explode, his heart was thundering at an insane rate. Kion looked at his handcuffed wrists and watched as his golden fur turned to a stark white and his arms bulged snapping the cuffs right off. Kit fired off two shots as Kion began to grow larger only for the bullets to bounce off of him, all his fur was white now apart from his mane that was red as the rage in his heart.

"Retreat!" Kit shouted, grabbing Dr Willis and rushing out the door.

"WHERE IS MY SISTER?!" Kion gave a primal scream as his body continued to transform in a herculean fashion. Kion didn't have time to think about what was happening to his body, this was his one chance to find out what happened to Kiara, all the questions could wait, right now he had to catch that bear and hippo. Kion who usually six foot two inches tall now stood around thirteen feet with muscles that looked like they could power through anything. The transformed Lion took a deep breath before letting out a deafening roar then bust through the small door frame to the room and began chasing his captors.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Kion's got a power!? What does his captors know about Kiara? Did you like it? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Luna has a crazy idea, Kion goes on the rampage and the trio of new heroes get a chance to prove themselves. Please review and c ya soon...)


	11. Opportunity knocks

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of ceartais, thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. A big shout out to the devolpment team who helped piece this chapter together and thank you Alex for Beta reading it, this is a special chapter seeing as it's Pride month so please enjoy. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

Chapter 10- Opportunity Knocks

It took around ninety minutes for Robin Senior, Marian and Luna to explain the quite unbelievable tale of the M.M gang's creation, how Robin Senior and Little John went on the run for twenty five years, how Nick, Judy, Jack and Skye were tasked with bringing them down when they resurfaced in Zootopia and the uneasy alliance to bring down the Underworld trio. The group was now sat in the observation deck in the bunker, drinking the tea Robin senior had prepared while the story was told, three teenagers were enraptured by the story with all them hanging on every word.

"…and so Mom didn't react savagely with the night howler serum in her system, she just started licking my face and making weird bunny noises, Dad came into the room and used a tranq arrow to knock her out, she was in hospital for a week but she was fine. A year later Mom found out she was pregnant with you Robbie during a trip to Bunnyburrow. And that's about it." Luna finished her tale, finishing her third cup of tea.

"Wait that's it? What about the MM gang, what happened with them?" Hannah spoke up, itching for details.

"The deal we had with your parents included the condition that if we helped them bring down the underworld trio we would be free but we'd have to give up our vigilantism." Marian answered the young Savage.

"That sucks, you guys were heroes." Kodi commented, seeing Marian and Robin senior in a completely new light.

"We were getting too old anyway, we were both 49 at the time and all those missions had taken their toll." Robin senior glossed over.

"But that doesn't explain how you and Olivia became heroes." Robyn stated at her sister.

"That happened when we were sixteen," Olivia butted in, a little hyper from all the sugar she had consumed "I had already built my first mech for fun but when Marian spotted it well let's just say she saw potential."

"I did." Marian smiled "You were a genius from a young age and Luna had inherited her gift of archery from her Granddad and Dad."

"It was selfish of us really," Robin senior sighed "we wanted someone to carry on our work, so we chose two kids to train and guide."

"Spitfire and Andraste, the only graduates of the Ceartais project." Marian said, sounding a little sad.

"Cear-what?" Robyn asked.

"It was the codename for a project to find and train Mammals to become the next generation of heroes for the city." Marian elaborated.

"It was a success…until I quit." Luna lamented, looking at her paws.

"Luna you've got to stop beating yourself up over that, you made the choice to leave and we respect that." Robin senior said with kindness.

"So why did you quit Lu?" Robyn asked, this question triggered a quartet of awkward looks from her grandparents, Olivia and Luna.

"…I couldn't handle it." Luna replied in a reserved voice, avoiding eye contact with her little sister "Also I developed anger issues."

Robyn knew she wasn't getting the full story but she also knew not to press the issue, instead she asked about "Anger issues?"

"Yeah, I used to get angry and rage out at the slightest thing." Luna confessed "I still go to a therapist every two weeks to help with it."

"But you're so nice, you've never been an angry person." Robyn responded, a little puzzled.

"Shows that my therapy is working." Luna half smiled, hoping beyond anything that her baby sister would never discover the real reason for her quitting the hero game.

"Did Mom and Dad know about you being Andraste?" Robyn asked, pretty sure of the answer.

"No and I never want them to, that part of my life is over." Luna replied, sounding disappointed in herself.

"Ok no more downer conversations let's talk about something positive." Olivia insisted, despite being the smallest mammal in the room her sweet Scottish voice was lough enough to hear.

"Such as?" Marian asked, wary of the mischievous look in the mouse's eyes.

"Restarting the ceartais project!" Olivia cheered, she was stood on massive workstation which monitored the city.

"What!?" Marian barked, having a troubling feeling where this was headed.

"Restartceartais?" Robin senior questioned, but he was smiling.

"Think about it; Zootopia is in the worst state it's ever been in, I'm struggling to do all the hero work on my own, we need new heroes and we've got three prime candidates right here!" Olivia buzzed, motioning towards Hannah, Robyn and Kodi.

"Us?" Kodi smiled, feeling giddy.

"Wait, no, hell no." Marian crushed "They're too inexperienced, they couldn't handle it out there, you and Luna had been gifted from a young age."

"But Hannah and Robyn have freaking super powers and Kodi is a fantastic driver, all three of them have so much potential." Olivia made her case.

"But the city is more dangerous than ever, they could get hurt." Marian fretted.

"Nana why are you so against this?" Luna countered "You started this project in the first place and now we have three possible recruits you're chickening out?"

"It's just…" Marian began to shout but steadied herself "it's just I saw what this life did to you, I don't want them to go down the same path."

Luna put an arm around her grandmother and assured "That's why I'm going to help to make sure they don't make the same mistakes I made."

"I don't know." Marian struggled.

"Well none of it matter unless these three agree," Robin senior pointed out, looking at the three friends "so what do you say?"

"I'm in, totally in, 100%!" Kodi answered in an excited voice.

"I want to help Mammals, so count me in." Hannah committed herself.

Robyn looked at her paws before saying "I've always been told everything happens for a reason, so maybe the reason I've got these powers was destiny, y'know? To become a hero like you guys, I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to join the family business."

Robin senior smiled at his namesake before walking over and giving her a hug "You're going to be great." He said with pride

"Do the family proud Robbie." Luna grinned.

"But don't think this will be easy, I'm going to train the three of you until you drop." Marian said begrudgingly, still unsure about the whole thing.

"If it was easy it wouldn't be fun." Hannah remarked, twirling her cane like a baton.

All of a sudden an angry "Bloody hell!" flew from Olivia's mouth, everyone turned to see Olivia looking at the bank of multiple computer monitors, it was the Phelps arms lab camera feed that Marian had hacked earlier; on the screen was a sun bear and some masked mammals in black combat fatigues dragging a unconscious Lion to a lab "The bastards are experimenting on mammals! I need to get there before they kill him."

"Wait that's Kion!?" Kodi noticed with alarm, knowing his friend anywhere.

"Kion!" Hannah loudly voiced her worry, wishing she could see what was on the screen "Who's got Kion!?"

"What is this!?" Robyn asked her family with insistence, pointing at the screen.

"Long story short the bad guys have kidnapped your friend," Marian replied, rushing over to her workstation and began typing away "and if we don't get to him soon he'll probably be dead."

"I need to get in my mech." Olivia announced, running across the workstation and onto Luna's already outstretched arm before running up to her shoulder, as Luna ran towards the observation deck exit.

"We're coming to!" Robyn hollered "Kodi you drive, Hannah get your gun. We'll get radios from the armoury."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hang on this is a dangerous mission, you're not ready!" Marian tried to stop the teens who were already following Olivia and Luna.

"Think of this as their job interview." Olivia answered loudly.

"Yeah, y'know what they say; opportunity knocks." Kodi flashed a smile, spinning his pick up truck keys on his index finger.

000

Kion's massive white furred form crashed through the doorframe, through the dust and debris he could see the bear and pygmy hippo turning the corner of the hallway "Kiara…" He spoke to himself, to give him strength, he sped down the hallway and turned the corner to find a dozen armed men aiming assault rifles at him. "Open fire!" One of them shouted, this triggered a massive storm of bullets colliding with Kion's body, but they all bounced off of him like ping pong balls, halfway through the guards spending their magazines Kion charged forward like a freight train knocking the armed guards away in all directions as he headed for the emergency exit that was partly open, he knew in his gut that was the bear and hippo ran out of. Kion exited the door with haste, having to crouch to get through to find an empty helipad with a helicopter already in the air and out of reach "NOOOOOO!" Kion blasted, feeling a surge of rage coursing through him.

"Kill him!" Another voice shouted. Kion turned around to see some of the guards from the hallway were still standing, and one of them had a rpg launcher. The rocket propelled grenade flew from the launcher and exploded on Kion's torso sending him hurtling off the helipad and crashing onto cold cement of the courtyard, Kion checked his torso for a wound but could only see singe marks from the explosion, but that blow had winded him and made him disoriented, the giant lion struggled to his feet in preparation of the next barrage. He saw the guards on the Helipad looking down at him ready to fire again, Kion braced himself for another wave of bullets, they couldn't kill but it did hurt like hell. As the mercs lined up their rifles though they all fell down on the helipad one by one, from a tranq dart to their exposed necks before Kion could figure what was going on Spitfire landed in front of him. The mech looked the herculean Lion in his naked form up and down before saying "Kion? Oh god what have they done to you."

"H-how do you know my name?" Kion panted, feeling tired all of a sudden.

"Don't worry we're going to help you get out of here." Spitifre assured, holding up her robotic hands to show she meant no harm.

"Kiara…they know about…" Kion breathed, swaying from exhaustion.

"Kiara!?" Spitifire gasped, inside the mech Olivia's eyes grew wide with worry and wonder.

All of sudden the sound of a dozen or so pairs of feet stomping towards them snapped the two out of their conversation, they looked toward the direction of the noise to see more mercs coming towards them but before Spitfire could attack a small blur of ginger fur leapt towards the leader of the guards; a yak and kicked him in the abdomen sending him flying into three of his underlings. "Evening boys." Robyn smirked, getting into a fighting stance.

Then two gunshots rang out and two more mercs fell down writhing in pain from the rocksalt imbedded in their flesh, Hannah had taken cover behind Kodi's truck while taking shots at the mercs trying to kill Kion with the young wolf beside looking on in astonishment as she landed each shot perfectly while Robyn knocked out any stragglers. It was over in less than thirty seconds, Robyn got two gunshots to her back but the nanomachines in her body had already pushed the bullets out of her body and healed up the wounds but Robyn wasn't focused on the pain she focused on the thirteen foot naked white lion with a blood red mane a few yards away "Kion?" She gawped.

"Holy crap." Kodi muttered approaching Spitifire and Kion.

"Is he taller?" Hannah questioned, sensing the odd shape.

"Yeah…and he's naked to." Robyn answered, averting her gaze.

"Is this one of the times I should be thankful I'm blind?" Hannah joked nervously.

"That's your take away on this, he's naked? How about the fact he looks like something out of greek mythology or something?" Kion replied with an awestruck face, hardly believing what he was seeing.

Kion then suddenly fainted, falling flat on his back, his body began to shrink back to it's normal size while his fur returned to it's regular golden hue. "Kion!" Robyn stressed.

"His heart rate is slowing." Hannah quietly said with a frightened tone.

Kodi ran over took off his jacket and covered up Kion's crotch area "What happened to him?" Kion asked Spitfire with concern, hoping her knowledge would hold the truth.

"He's had some very dangerous technology grafted on his body," Spitfire answered, crouching down and scooping up Kion "let's get him back to the bunker so Luna can have a look at him."

000

"Kion?" A gentle voice spoke "Kion can you hear me?"

Kion felt like he had just run a marathon, his muscles ached, his mouth was dry and his senses were gradually coming to. The lion opened his eyes and instantly squinted as the bright artificial lights of the bunker hit his sight "W-who?" he asked, sounding confused. It felt like he was laying down on some sort of cushioned surface, he tried to sit up but struggled.

"Easy now," the gentle voice advised "your body has taken a lot of punishment tonight."

Kion's eyes adjusted to the light and looked at the mammal taking care of him, it was an amber eyed vixen wearing a pink dress with a stethoscope hanging around her neck "Luna?" Kion mumbled, confused to see the old family friend.

"You had us worried there for a sec," Luna said in a soothing manner, removing ECG dots from his chest "but luckily all your obs are normal."

"What happened?" Kion asked, his mind hazy, he was dressed in black t shirt and matching shorts he didn't recognise as his own.

"That's, uh, hard to explain." Luna manoeuvred, taking a pulse oximeter off his right index finger.

Kion took in his surroundings, he was laying on examination table akin to one you'd find in a doctor's office, the room was full of high tech medical equipment and one of the walls had three huge monitors with scans and data regarding Kion's body. "Is this a hospital?" Kion asked, having a feeling he was probably wrong.

"Not exactly," Luna answered, trying to figure out the right way to explain their location "this is a private infirmary."

And before Kion could ask a follow up question a jubilant voice yelled "Guys he's awake!" he turned to see Robyn running towards him, she leapt up to stand on the bed and hugged the lion "Thank god you're ok."

Kion couldn't believe how tight the bunny/fox hybrid was hugging him, "Robyn…" Kion wheezed.

Robyn realised what she was doing and ceased the hug while giving a small "Sorry."

"Damn Squirt you've got some strength." Kion smiled, his chest now sore.

"Understatement of the year." Luna mumbled.

"Glad to see you're all right big guy." Kodi's voice came from the doorway, Kion saw the wolf along with Hannah beside him and oddly enough Robyn's grandparents and Olivia.

"Um what are you all doing here?" Kion asked, growing more confused.

Olivia,who was sat upon Kodi's shoulder, cleared her throat and responded with "This is very important; what's the last thing you remember?"

"Well I…I had this weird dream, I was in a hospital bed and some strange mammals mentioned Kiara's name, somehow I transformed into a giant and I chased them…then there was some kind of explosion and I saw Spitfire…sounds crazy I know." Kion recalled what he thought had been a dream.

"Not as crazy as you might think." Robyn said, looking at Kion with sympathy.

"How do you mean?" Kion asked, concerned by Robyn's expression.

"It happened, everything you just said happened about two hours ago," Hannah informed "we brought you back here when you collapsed."

"What? No, no that can't be right, I turned into a monster." Kion scoffed, thinking that this was some elaborate trick.

"Technically your body underwent a temporary mutation caused by that thing attached to your spinal cord." Olivia corrected.

"What thing?" Kion questioned with alarm, reaching around to his back and feeling something strange imbedded in his skin just above his tail "What the hell is that!?"

"It's a prototype drug delivery I created named Elixir, that's what causes your transformation." Olivia revealed with regret.

"You did this to me?!" Kion bawled, more upset than angry.

"No, someone stole my tech and did this to you." Olivia assured "I'm sorry but I can't remove it, if I do it will cause irreparable damage to your spine, you'd be paralysed."

"None of this makes sense!" Kion expressed, his paw pads becoming sweaty "That was a dream, it wasn't real!"

"I'm sorry big guy but it's true," Kodi tried to be comforting "but don't worry we're going to help you get through this."

"But Spitfire was there, and why the hell are you guys all here, I don't even know where the hell I am!" Kion freaked, his anxiety swelling.

"Kion I'm Spitfire," Olivia confided "it's a machine that I pilot. And as to answer where you're in the infirmary wing of my secret bunker under the Dawson tech building."

"You're Spitfire?" Kion scoffed, then he remembered that she was an expert in robotic engineering and was a billionaire "Oh Christ, you really are Spitfire…but why is everyone here?"

Another forty five minutes passed and Kion was brought up to speed on everything, he was doubtful of Hannah and Robyn's power so he needed a little demonstration to convince him, but now he was sat on one of the sofas in the observation deck trying to come to terms with everything, especially the news regarding Kiara's whereabouts the night of the wave. "She's alive?" Kion was weeping tears of joy.

"She has to be, I found no trace of her blood or her body at the munitions plant, she's out there somewhere." Oliva answered, she was stood on Kion's shoulder and putting a comforting paw on the feline's cheek.

"I knew it, I knew she wasn't dead." Kion cried, wiping away the tears in his eyes.

"And I'm going to find her, I promise you." Olivia swore.

"And we're going to help." Robyn added.

"Not until you've had proper training." Marian stipulated.

"Nan I'm immortal I'll be fine." Robyn whinged.

"Are you sure about that?" Luna queried "Have you been stabbed through the heart or got a bullet to the brain yet?"

"Well…no, but I got shot twice and had a machete go through my chest tonight and I'm fine." Robyn answered pointing to the hole in her t shirt where the machete went through.

"I'm going to have to run tests on both you and Hannah before I can clear you for hero work." Luna stated, crossing her arms.

"And I'm going to have to teach this guy how to fight." Marian said sternly, nodding at Kodi.

"Yes ma'am." Kodi gulped, intimidated by the retired vigilante.

"It'll feel good to teach again." Robin senior grinned.

"Listen," Kion spoke up "if you guys are going to search for Kiara then I want to join to, maybe this thing on my spine will actually help."

Hannah lightly laughed before saying "We're really becoming super heroes, aren't we?"

"Welcome to Team Ceartais." Robin senior replied.

"Ceartais?" Kion questioned.

"I came up with the name," Marian responded "my parents were Irish so I codename a lot of my projects in the Gaelic language."

Kodi had gotten his phone out and was browsing the word on google "Huh." The wolf sounded.

"What?" Marian asked.

"Well not to rain on your parade but ceartais isn't the irish word for justice, well google says it is but it's disputed by differing sources." Kodi explained, showing his phone screen.

"We're sticking with ceartais." Marian said in a deadpan voice, her eyes flickering with annoyance.

"I'd drop it if I were you, I pointed it out years ago and it did not turn out well." Robin senior advised Kodi.

"Who cares if the name is wrong?" Olivia asked rhetorically "The point is we have four new rookies on our team, this is going to be awesome."

"So what now? We come in tomorrow to start training?" Robyn asked, eager to get going.

"Nope, tomorrow is Saturday and you lot are having the weekend off." Olivia insited "Report here at 3pm on Monday afternoon and we'll get you set up with your personas and wages."

"Wait wages?" Hannah asked, her face screwing up in confusion.

"Of course, I set up a wage account for any potential heroes years ago and that baby has been building up interest." Olivia answered "Officially you'll be employed as Dawson Tech beta testers."

"Isn't doing hero work for money kinda' wrong?" Kodi questioned the ethics of a salary.

"Look being a member of this team might stop you from holding down a part time job, the public ain't paying you I am, just look at as saving money for college." Olivia convinced.

"I guess." Robyn shrugged, it would be cool to have some cash in her pocket.

"Um, I know this is rude but can I have advance on my wage? I have to move out of my parent's house asap." Kion asked with forlorn face.

"Move out? What happened?" Robyn asked, noticing the sorrow in her friend's eyes.

"It's complicated, can we talk about it later?" Kion answered, not wanting to think about what his mother did.

"Sure, we're here when you want to talk about it." Robyn promised with understanding.

"I'll advance you some money dude don't worry." Olivia assured "I'll send the money via paypaw."

"Thank you." Kion replied, sounding grateful.

"You can crash at my place tonight big guy." Kodi offered.

"That'd be great." Kion smiled.

Olivia glanced at her watch and said "Right it's nearly half one in the morning so that means the clubs are just getting good," she looked up at Luna and grinned "we're going to have some drinks and dance like idiots?"

"Why not?" Luna smiled "I've texted Aleks that I'm hanging out with you tonight already, let's go."

"I suggest you four head to Kodi's and relax, you've had a hell of a night." Marian told the teens.

"Enjoy this weekend, because come Monday it's going to get really tough for you." Robin senior added.

"But can't we train tomorrow?" Robyn whined, very eager to start her new regime.

"No," Robin senior said flatly "besides isn't it Pride this weekend? I'm surprised you two aren't excited for that."

"It's Pride this weekend?" Hannah asked herself "With everything that's been going on I totally forgot."

"It's going to be our first Pride together." Robyn smiled shyly at Hannah who took a hold of her paw.

"Awww," Kodi cooed "you two are my real life OTP."

"Ugh quit it with the shipping talk." Robyn groaned.

"Not a chance, the grand ship WildeSavage sails strong or do you prefer Robnah?" Kodi asked in jest.

"WildeSavage sounds like a good ship name." Hannah chuckled.

"Don't encourage him." Robyn replied with a roll of her navy blue eyes.

000

Olivia's eyes fluttered open and she immediately noticed she was in a bedroom that wasn't her own, the place looked like a cheap apartment that a bachelor would rent, Olivia was laying naked on top of a duvet she turned to her side to see a male Jerboa, who was also nude and thankfully asleep. She quietly rose from the bed as not to alert her one night stand, she found her phone and purse on the bedside table, she hastily looked in her purse to check something important. Olivia gave a sigh of relief when she saw the three of the five rodent sized condoms she kept in a zipped pocket of her purse were now gone. "Thank god." Olivia whispered, she then looked at the Jerboa, she wasn't sure of his name Was it Faisal? Or Farooq? She thought, but all she could remember was snippets of the night before; she remembered meeting the mystery Jerboa at metal club with Luna, she then remembered something about wanting cheesy pizza but what remembered most of all was the sex…and it was good. Olivia slipped on her knickers before quietly yet quickly putting on the rest of her clothes, she then tip toed out of the rodent sized studio apartment before closing the door as silently as she could. Once she was in the stairwell she pulled out her phone to check the time 9.37 am "Ugh, only three hours sleep." Olivia grunted as she trudged down the stairs of the apartment building, she contemplated ringing her PA, Pua, to organise her a ride back to her home in Savannah central but remembered it was a Saturday and she implemented a strict 'weekend off' rule at her company meaning no one worked at Dawson tech on Saturday or Sunday, except security teams guarding the tech. "Well at least I haven't got a hangover." She said to herself as she exited the building, she took note of her surroundings and surmised that she was in a rodent neighbourhood in the meadowlands district.

Before the wave devastated Zootopia rodents were the most common species group in the metropolis but now there was fewer than a 100,000. Little Rodentia, the biggest hub of the rodent populace had been washed away by the wave, the ironic thing was that by the time the tsunami reached the area it was only four feet high but that was enough to kill millions of tiny mammals. And so the rodents that were left had become sombre and the small suburbs that were once so full of life had become quiet and mournful, Olivia noticed this as she walked through the small scale streets of this rodent suburb, everyone seemed to have a dark cloud over their head but not her, she didn't have time for feeling sad, Olivia Dawson needed to be strong so that Spitfire could be strong. The 22 year old mouse spotted a coffee shop and commented to herself "Time to refuel.", her brain then flashed back to the erotic encounter last night for some unknown reason, then a small barb of guilt hit her for what she did; she had deceived the Jerboa she had slept with by giving him a false name. Olivia internally criticised herself for feeling guilty over this, she was a busy mammal who controlled one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies on the planet but also spent her nights as a kick ass vigilante she had no time for a boyfriend, when she felt the urge it was easier just to go out and have sex with a stranger than go into the dreaded world of dating and find someone. But there was another reason she would use a false name; her money. Olivia never gave her real name to lovers to avoid detection that she was in fact one of the richest mammals on earth and it had worked so far. Don't misunderstand Olivia, she does want a relationship filled with love and trust, the problem is that she set a very high bar; her Dads. Olivia's fathers David and Basil Dawson had been married for twenty years and had adopted Olivia not long after her fourth birthday, she barely remembered her birth parents now, most of her life had been filled with love and guidance of her beloved Dads. Basil and David were model parents, encouraging Olivia with her gifts and guiding her when she needed it but of course the most important factor of being a parent was making sure the child felt loved, and Olivia was never wanting for that. Plus her Daddies were a cute couple that often finished one another's sentences, used cute nicknames to address each other and always snuggled on the sofa when watching TV, Olivia wanted something like that but to be honest she was too scared to try and find it. This train of thought distracted her so much that she barely remembered ordering her latte with extra sugar and only snapped out of it when the water vole Barista shouted "Yo lady with the piercings!"

"Huh?" Olivia sounded, before remembering where she was "Oh sorry, I'm half asleep." She took the paper cup loaded with caffeine and sugar then walked out of the coffee shop with her mind still on her Daddies, she wished she could have something like what her parents have but the fact was Olivia found it hard to trust mammals, she always kept her heart closed.

Just then she heard some heavy footsteps hitting the pavement behind her, she glanced behind her to see a muscle bound rat in a white vest top and black shorts looking straight at her, he looked a little frightening with very visible scar that ran from his cheek to halfway down his neck. "Hey you!" The Rat called out. Olivia jumped to the conclusion Is this bastard going to try and mug me? Keep walking Olivia and walk into the next shop you find but she could hear the footsteps getting louder and closer "Hey!" The Rat hailed again, his voice was deep and gruff. Olivia sped up her walking pace and tried to figure out a plan, if this guy was going to try and mug her she was going to fight back, but in the back of her mind a little bit of fear was rearing it's ugly head; Olivia had always been intimidated by rats, she thought that they were brutes and bullies, she had often chastised herself for thinking such speciest things but the fear was still there. She felt a paw fall on her shoulder and her body just reacted; Olivia dropped her latte, spun around and sent a swift kick to the Rat's crotch causing him to yelp in pain, he fell to the ground with his hands on his family jewels.

"That's what you get!" Olivia spat, her fists clenched and ready for a follow up attack.

"W-why did you do that?" The Rat groaned, his pain clear in voice and facial expression.

"Think you could sneak up on a tiny mouse huh?" Olivia sassed.

"Sneak up?" The Rat wheezed, still writhing on the ground "I was calling out to y-you."

"You touch me and I'll kick you in the balls even harder." Olivia threatened.

The Rat then opened one of his paws to reveal a smart phone "You left your phone in the coffee shop, that's why I came after you." The Rat revealed with a pained breath.

Olivia's eyes bulged as she felt a surge of guilt well in her chest, this Rat wasn't a mugger he was a nice guy trying to return her phone Oh you've messed up big time Olivia she thought before her mouth exploded with "Oh my god, I am so so sorry! I just panicked like an idiot." She crouched down beside the buff Rat and tried to help him up but the Rat swatted her paw away.

"Here's your phone jerk." The Rat huffed, he placed the phone on the ground before getting to his feet and marching off.

"W-wait!" Olivia crowed, her tone remorseful. The brown furred mouse picked up her phone and chased after the Rat and was soon beside him "I'm really sorry!"

"Apology not accepted." The Rat replied sharply, not looking Olivia in the eyes.

Olivia took a closer look at the mammal she had wrongfully stereotyped and attacked, he was in his early twenties with a rare blue tint to his fur, he had a broad chest and imposing looking muscles, he did look tough but Olivia had judged him wrong. "Look let me buy you breakfast to apologise." Olivia grovelled, feeling like the worst mammal on the planet.

"You think buying me food will help ease your guilt," The Rat scoffed, continuing to walk "let me guess you saw a rat approaching you and you instantly thought I was going to hurt you."

"…Yes." Olivia admitted "And that makes a shitty person, I know that."

"At least we agree on one thing." The Rat observed.

"Come on let me buy you some pancakes, you can tell me what an awful mammal I am and I can sit there and agree with everything you're saying." Olivia bargained "What have you got to lose?"

The Rat let out a sigh, stopped in his tracks and looked down at the shorter rodent "If I agree will you stop following me?"

"Yes absolutely!" Olivia promised.

"Tch, fine." The Rat gave in with a tut. "Lead the way."

"Great," Olivia replied starting to walk in the direction of a diner she knew "so what's your name?"

"Blake Gusteau," he answered, walking beside Olivia "how about you Miss Ball Breaker?"

"Liv Baker." Olivia lied and immediately cursed herself for using a fake name yet again.

000

Kion felt like his brain had been put a blender, the last twenty four hours and the events and emotions that went with it was enough to stress anyone out. Kion was scared of the elixir system attached to his spine and what it turned him into but he was also relieved to get some answers regarding Kiara, just knowing she was alive was worth all the pain he had been through. Kion had checked his bank balance this morning to see if Olivia had added his advance pay and was surprised to find $5000 had been transferred via paypaw, this was more than enough for renting a new place. There was no way he was going back home, the feeling of hate towards his parents had not died down, it was best for now to keep his distance from them. And now Kion was feeling a different kind of fear, he was stood outside the convenience store where Jasiri worked. He felt jittery about talking to the beautiful hyena again but also a little excited, as well as being extremely attractive she was a kind mammal with

a big heart, Kion could feel his heart rate pick up as he entered the store. The moment he walked in he could see Jasiri near the counter restocking the candy bars, she spotted Kion and greeted warmly "Hey Kion, you're looking better than the last time I saw you."

"Y-yeah." Kion replied, noticing how tight Jasiri's jeans were and how they complimented her shapely butt.

"So what can I do for you?" she asked with a toothy grin.

"Well you mentioned yesterday about knowing someone who was looking for a roommate, you don't know the details do you?" Kion enquired, his eyes were soaking up that grin.

"Sure," Jasiri replied brightly "it's only down the street, it's a double room with the furniture already in it, the rent is $600 a month with all the bills thrown in."

"That sounds great." Kion smiled, knowing how good the deal was. "You got this Mammal's phone number so I can call them?"

"No need, I'm the mammal looking for a roommate." Jasiri informed.

Kion's pulse quickened again before asking "Y-you're going to be my new roommate?"

"Yep," Jasiri chuckled at the lion's expression "don't worry I'm not a nightmare to live with." Then gave a very hyena style laugh.

Not a nightmare, it's a dream Kion thought, treasuring the sound of Jasiri's laugh that he couldn't help but find sexy.

000

"Ok Mason, yeah I'll be at the press conference on Monday, I'll try and find a running mate before then, see you at City Hall." Nick spoke into his phone before hanging up. He was sat on the sofa in the apartment with a eager looking Judy beside him "That's it I'm running for mayor." He spoke.

"And you're going to win." Judy willed, kissing her dumb fox on the cheek.

"Thanks Carrots, you've always got my back." Nick smiled down at his sly bunny.

"And I still have your back when you're in city hall." Judy vowed.

"Hang on a sec, if I get elected will that technically make me your boss?" Nick gave a smug smile.

"Yes but remember who's the real boss at home, especially in the bedroom." Judy flirted.

"Hmm I might need some reminding." Nick flirted back, leaning in for a kiss.

But before either of them could lock lips the sound of keys in the front door startled the couple and both of them went to opposite ends of the sofa akin to two teenagers getting caught making out. The door opened and Robyn and Hannah walked in, Robyn saw her parents and gave a small "Hey."

"Hi you two, how was the video game marathon?" Nick asked, standing up from the sofa.

"Good, I can still kick Robyn's butt despite being blind." Hannah spun a lie, folding up her cane.

"You're joking right?" Judy asked with a small laugh.

"I don't how she did it but she thrashed me." Robyn added to the lie convincingly.

Judy shook her head in disbelief before asking "Hannah do you want to stay for lunch?"

"Actually me and Robyn are heading back out pretty soon." Hannah replied.

"Yeah I just came home for a change of clothes." Robyn informed.

"You two got a date?" Nick asked, taking some blueberries out of the fruit bowl and tossing a couple in his mouth.

"We're going to Pride." Robyn couldn't help but smile.

"Oh yeah Mason said him and Benny were heading to that with the twins." Nick remembered.

"Oh you two are so adorable, your first pride together." Judy gushed, with quite a few gay siblings she knew how important this was for a couple.

"Mom you sound as bad as Kodi." Robyn criticized, secretly happy that her parents supported her relationship so much,

"Hmmm that's a thought who's the bigger shipper; Judy or Kodi?" Hannah asked with a very vulpine grin.

"Me obviously." Judy stated putting her paws on her hips.

"I dunno' Kodi did ship me and Hannah before I even came out as Bi." Robyn smiled, noticing her mother's defiant expression.

"Oh please I'm your number one shipper, remember how happy I was when you went on your first date?" Judy said, not backing down.

"Yeah but Kodi gave us a ship name; WildeSavage." Hannah added, winding Judy up.

"Well I ship you so much I've already spotted the hat I want to wear to your wedding day." Judy blurted out.

"Mom!" Robyn reacted, aghast. Hannah looked equally embarrassed and was hugging her striped tail nervously.

"It's a little early to be hearing wedding bells Carrots." Nick laughed.

"Ugh, you're so embarrassing." Robyn seethed "I'm going to get changed."

"Wait a minute, I need to tell you something." Nick spoke up.

"Hmm?" Robyn signalled.

"I got a job offer from Mason yesterday and I think I'm going to go for it." Nick said, psyching himself up.

"What kind of job?" Robyn quizzed.

"I'm going to run for mayor." Nick revealed.

"For real?" Hannah reacted.

"You're going to try and become mayor of Zootopia?" Robyn wanted conformation.

"Yeah, I'm holding a press conference on Monday." Nick explained.

"Dad that's great, I think you can do it." Robyn cheered, genuinely happy for her father.

"Yeah, you'll be an awesome mayor." Hannah threw in.

"Thanks girls, now all I have to do is finding a running mate." Nick sighed, the task of finding someone for a job that no one wanted was daunting to say the least.

"Surely there are politicians who would jump at the chance?" Robyn figured.

"No one wants it, Mason and the governor have already tried." Nick replied "I need someone who's a community leader who's got a good set of morals."

"What about Alana Clearwater?" Hannah suggested.

"Yeah Alana would be perfect!" Robyn agreed enthusiastically.

"Who?" Nick questioned.

"Alana's the mammal who runs the Sherwood relief centre, she organised the whole thing without help from the government or the red cross, people really like her." Robbyn elaborated.

"Hmmm, looks like I'm heading to Sherwood." Nick smiled, hoping this Alana person was as good they say.

An hour or so later Hannah and Robyn climbed the steps out of the subway station on the other side of Savannah central and were met with a carnival atmosphere, the whole town square was alive with music, laughter and joy. There were rainbow lgbtq flags everywhere; on storefronts, food stalls and being held by mammals of all shapes and sizes "Wow." Robyn uttered, soaking in the atmosphere.

"How does it look?" Hannah asked, her arm linked with her girlfriend.

"It looks amazing, everyone's got a smile on their face, there's pride flags everywhere." Robyn described.

"Shall we join the party m'lady?" Hannah suggested with charm, wrapping her tail around the girl she loved.

"But of course." Robyn grinned. The two walked into the main hub of the celebration, Robyn spotted a poster with a schedule of all the events, the actual parade wasn't going to start until 5pm so there was plenty of time to look around and enjoy the street party.

"Let me see, there's a stand up comedy contest in the park, live music outside City hall, a fashion show near the mall, food and clothes stalls are everywhere…damn there's a lot to do." Robyn read the poster.

"Let's get some ice cream, I'm in the mood for mint choc chip." Hannah offered, her keen sense of smell could smell the sweet treats.

"You got it." Robyn agreed.

Soon enough the two lovebirds were sat on a bench enjoying their ice cream, Robyn couldn't get over how happy she felt at the moment, it was a beautiful day and everyone around was having fun, it was a perfect day. "Are you smiling?" Hannah asked with curiosity in her voice.

"Yeah, I don't think I've smiled this much since our first date." Robyn answered, looking at her love,

"I always loved your smile, it's beautiful." Hannah confided.

"Buck teeth and fangs mixed together ain't beautiful." Robyn disagreed.

"They are to me," Hannah insisted, finishing off her ice cream cone "say can I try something?"

"Sure, what?" Robyn asked back.

"Can I touch your face? I know it seems weird but I miss seeing your smile so I figure maybe I can feel it?" Hannah asked, sounding timid.

Robyn's heart fluttered at these words and instantly answered "Yes, I'd love that."

"Ok, here I go." Hannah said shyly, she reached out with her paws and gently touched Robyn's face. Hannah gasped a little at how much the sensation of touch was affecting her, her fingertips traced the softness and shape of Robyn's face, she could tell from her cheek muscles that her girlfriend was smiling "There's that smile I love." Hannah whispered lovingly. Robyn took hold of one of Hannah's paws and kissed it softly before leaning in and snogging her belle.

An hour passed and the two girls had been around the stalls, with Robyn purchasing a sweatband designed with the colours of the Bisexual pride flag and Hannah buying some lovely smelling homemade soaps from a vendor. The two were just walking by the live music stage outside city hall when Hannah heard the band strike up a familiar tune that stopped her in her tracks, it was the slow but magical sound of La Vie En Rose. Hannah reached out and grabbed Robyn's paw and said "Dance with me?"

"What? Dance? I can't dance." Robyn dodged.

"It's a slow dance, come on it's my favourite love song." Hannah pleaded, the sound of the trumpet was making her feel giddy.

Robyn knew she couldn't deny Hannah this and said "Fine but don't complain if I step on your feet."

The pair walked onto the makeshift dancefloor where a few other couples were enjoying the slow dance, Hannah brought Robyn closer to her, held her and began to sway with the music. The two girls danced to the famous love song, savouring every note and lyric as if it was written just for them with both of them sharing the emotion of true love in their heart. "I love you babe." Robyn smiled, wishing this day would never end.

"I love you too." Hannah returned with affection before softly kissing her beloved.

(AN/ No cliffhanger this week folks, so what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next chapter...Nick and Alana meet, The ZPD and MCB team up to track down a serial killer and the training of our young heroes begins. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	12. Love and Pain

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge with another chapter of star of ceartais, a big thank you to Alex B and Alana who both wrote parts of this chapter, also big shout out to the SOC development team who always help me out...)

 **Chapter 11- Love and Pain.**

Alana Clearwater had been through an odd twenty four hours to say the least, yesterday morning she had been held at gunpoint and had all the relief centre's meds robbed, then that evening the prescription drugs were returned my an urban legend; Spitfire. Alana honestly believed that the mech was the work of some crazy conspiracy theorist's imagination but she saw the robotic vigilante with her own eyes. As she sat down in her office at the Sherwood community centre she wished that today would be relatively normal, she was about to start checking the order forms for more bottled water when a soft knocking at the door halted her "Come in." she replied.

The door opened to reveal someone she definitely did not expect, there stood Nick Wilde dressed in a gaudy red Hawaiian shirt with black pants and his aviator sunglasses on "You must be Alana." He greeted, walking in casually.

Alana immediately stood up and babbled "C-captain Wilde?" hardly believing the mammal that had inspired her so much was standing in front of her desk.

"Folks only call me that when I'm uniform, when I'm like this just call me Nick." Nick charmed taking off his aviators.

Alana walked around her desk to Nick and extended her hoof to the shorter mammal "It's so nice to meet you."

Nick shook Alana's hoof and smiled "Likewise, I just had a quick look at the relief centre, very impressive."

"Well everyone who works here was inspired by what you did the night of the wave, including me." Alana replied, hoping that she didn't sound too much like a fangirl. "It took a lot of courage to use your voice, a cowardly cop would've used a gun but not you."

"I didn't feel very brave that night," Nick confessed "to be honest I was terrified, not of the quake or anything but I had just left my daughter in the hospital fighting septicaemia, I was scared that I'd never see her again."

"You're talking about Robyn? She's a great kid, so are her friends." Alana complimented.

"Actually Robyn is the reason I came to see you today." Nick bridged.

"Oh?" Alana sounded.

"The thing is I've got a job offer, Robyn and Hannah said that you would be the perfect mammal for the role." Nick teased.

"What's the job?" Alana asked, having no clue as to what this job might be.

"Assistant mayor of Zootopia." Nick answered.

Alana's face dropped as she replied with disbelief "Say what now?"

"I'm running for mayor of Zootopia and I need a running mate, I need a community leader who takes no shit from anyone, and from what I've heard about you that's exactly what you are." Nick convinced.

"You're joking right?" Alana half laughed.

"Alana you set up a relief centre and a wave town without any government help, mammals look to you for leadership already, you stand for what you believe in and you always do what's right…I'd say that's great assistant mayor material." Nick wrangled.

"But I'm only 25, that's too young. I have zero experience in politics and the Sherwood relief centre needs me." Alana made excuses, discouraging herself.

"Think how many mammals we could help all over Zootopia not just Sherwood if we were in city hall. Listen I wasn't sure about going for this job either but my wife convinced me I could do it, she believes in me and I want to be a mammal worthy of that belief." Nick confided, leaning on Alana's desk "And who cares about your age or experience? You've got heart kid and right now that's what this city needs."

"This…this is a lot to think about, can I get back to you on it?" Alana requested, her mind muddled.

"Of course." Nick empathised, producing a business card and placing it on Alana's desk "there's my card, if you could ring me before Monday morning that would be great. Oh and please keep quiet about me running for mayor, it's not public knowledge yet."

"Sure." Alana agreed with a nod, watching Nick leave the office. Alana looked at the ZPD contact card Nick had left and sighed, this was going to be a tough choice.

That night, Alana arrived home still thinking about Nick's offer. The young doe walked into her apartment, whom she shared with her boyfriend, Baylee, a mountain lion. She set her purse and keys on the entry table and rubbed her temples as she walked down the hall into the kitchen.

There Baylee was there to greet her. "Hey babe, how was your day? Anything exciting happen?"

"Oh god, you have no idea." She said as she went up to give him a kiss, then walked into the living room and plopped on the couch. "You'll never never guess who came to visit me today."

"I'm coming to a blank here. Who was it?" Baylee responded without looking up as he finished making their dinner.

"Nick Wilde. He… offered me a job…" Alana answered.

"No way! Like as in THE Captain Wilde? What kind of job did he offer you?" This grabbed his attention.

"Well… he's running for mayor and he needs an assistant mayor. He came in today to ask me if I could run for office with him." Alana said.

This caused a reaction. Baylee started choking on his homemade minestrone soup that he was taste testing.

Alana stood up from the couch, walking towards Baylee, "Oh my god are you ok?!" Baylee through his coughs just nodded his head. "Ok, Babe just breathe through your nose." He did so and the coughing finally subsided after about a minute.

Baylee cleared his throat to talk, "Wow, sorry about that. I just was NOT expecting that, Holy crap."

"I know right?" Alana answered back as she was pouring herself and Baylee a glass of wine," I don't know what I should do Baylee. I mean… I can't run a city! I'm only 25." She said as she put her hoofs on the counter.

Baylee simply said, "You can do it."

She looked at him curiously, "What makes you say that?"

"Alana, you started your own interior design and architecture firm at 23. You ran that place better than anyone who had 10 years on you. You were so good at it"

Alana pondered this for a moment remembering how her dreams that had washed away with the tsunami, but quickly brought herself out of the state of mind. She couldn't go down that dark hole. Alana then sighed, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Baylee then continued, "And then you created a relief centre from nothing to help mammals when the city wouldn't. You helped build shelters and you make sure they have food to eat everyday. You have what it takes. You have the leadership, the experience, and the drive to help those in need."

Alana smiled and gave a light punch to her boyfriend's arm, "Stop it, you're gonna turn me soft."

Baylee laughed and continued, "I'm serious though," his blue eyes then met with her brown eyes, " Alana, I know you can do this. You'd change lives. That's something you've always been good is a once in a lifetime chance. Just take it. "

She definitely thought about this. The more she talked to Baylee, the more confident she felt. "Thank you," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Talking to you has made me more sure about my decision. I don't know what I would do without you."

Baylee then leaned in for a kiss, "You probably die."

"Probably." She said smiling. Baylee was always the only who could bring out the sweet side of her, that most mammals could never see. "I'm going to call Nick Wilde in the morning and tell him I'm in!" Alana exclaimed.

Baylee laughed loudly while picking her up and spun her around. He stopped but didn't put her down, "You're going to be amazing."

000

It was Sunday morning and Kion had waiting outside the Priderock family home for a while, he was watching the front door from a nearby bus stop with the hood of his jacket up, his parents left the house around 10am like they did most Sundays for grocery shopping, a well of anger bubbled as he looked at his parents and their forlorn faces. With them now gone he was able to quickly head inside and grab his personal belongings before bolting out of there as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't want to risk any interaction at all with his parents so he packed with hasre. Now, with a carry case full of LPs, a suitcase and a backpack, he was walking inside the building Jasiri had told him the address of earlier. The building was made of bricks, like most buildings in the area, but this brick seemed to be cleaner, as if the building was newer, or was just better taken care of. Heading inside the main door, he came to a small room with a glass door on the other end of the room, and several metal boxes on the wall with buttons, speakers and name tags. Looking over the tags, Kion found one that said 'Jasiri Outlander' and pressed the button on the same box. After a few seconds of ringing, her enchanting voice came through **"Hello?"**

"Hi, it's me, Kion" the Lion replied, trying his best to sound casual despite feeling nervous.

" **Ah, Kion!"** She said happily **"come right up"**

There was a loud beep and the glass door clicked as it unlocked. Kion quickly threw it open and walked up some stairs to Jasiri's apartment. Knocking on the door, Kion couldn't help but enjoy it as the door opened and revealed Jasiri's smiling face. "Hey!" she beamed.

"Hey Jasiri" Kion gave a jittery grin.

"Welcome to casa de Jasiri" the hyena said gesturing to the surrounding room. Kion examined the area, The apartment entrance appeared to go into the living room. There was a couch in the middle of the room, and a TV on the opposite wall that the door was on. To the left of the door was a countertop, and on the other side was the kitchen. There was also 3 hallways leading out of the room in different directions.

"Let me give you the tour" Jasiri said, guiding her new roommate "This is the living room, over there is the kitchen" She gestured down one of the halls. "That's the pantry, and where the washing machine and dryer are" she then lead Kion down another hallway with a door on either side. "That's my room." she said pointing to a door on the left. Then she opened the door on the right. "And this is the bathroom."

The pair went back into the living room and then proceeded down the final hallway, which only contained one door. "And This is your room" Jasiri opened the door to reveal a room with a bed, a nightstand and another door that Kion assumed was a closet. The lion entered the room and set his bags down on the bed. It was a similar size to his room back home and all the furniture and bed linen looked brand new.

"I'll give you some time to get settled, I have to go meet with a tenant upstairs." Jasiri said, looking at her watch.

"Meet with a tenant?" Kion asked, sounding puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm the landlady of this complex." Jasiri answered, sounding a tad prideful.

"You're the landlady?" Kion said, surprised by the fact someone so young could own a single property let alone an entire building.

"Yep, but don't expect any discounts" she turned to leave the room, but stopped at the door, turned around, and gave Kion a sly look. "…yet" She let free a hyena laugh before leaving the room.

Kion couldn't describe the look she gave him, her mouth and eyes were open slightly and the look seemed to display slyness and cunning. Kion couldn't really pin down what the look meant, so he just decided to call it 'The Jasiri look'. But what the lion did know was that he definitely liked it when she gave him that look. _I'm going to enjoy living here_ he thought, briefly forgetting the pain of why he left home.

000

It was eight am on Monday morning Judy strolled into the mammalcide investigation offices of Precinct 1 to find her detectives assembled, as well as Major Crimes Bureau agents from the local field office. She could see one of the detectives still trying to set up the power point presentation, she figured it would be a few minutes. "Hey stranger." A friendly voice said behind her.

Judy turned around to see the two familiar faces of Jack and Skye Savage, Jack was in his trademark black suit, tie and white shirt combo while Skye was in claret blazer with a matching skirt. "How's being chief treating you?" Jack smiled.

Judy hugged Jack before also hugging Skye "Stressful as ever." Judy joked "I haven't seen you two in weeks, have things been crazy at the MCB too?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Skye grimaced "our evidence locker was destroyed in the wave, so all those investigations have gone down the drain."

"And I've been leading a task force trying to round up escape prisoners from the state pens." Jack informed "Add the fact that we've been focused on Hannah so much, it's just been a nightmare at the moment."

"But Hannah's coping with her blindness really well." Judy tried to put it brightly.

"I don't know how she's being so calm about everything, if it was me I'd be depressed one second and freaking out the next." Skye confided, her voice as blue as her eyes.

"It's because she has you two," Judy tried to cheer her old friends up "you've supported so much through everything, that's why she doesn't worry."

"I guess," Jack smiled, scratching the back of his head "but some of the credit should go to Robyn, she's been with Hannah all the way through this."

"Hannah looked so happy when she came back from Pride," Skye said with a dreamy tone "she's fallen for Robyn hard."

"Who would've thought that our daughters would be a couple one day?" Judy giggled, remembering the joy on Robyn's face when she had returned home from Pride.

"I had a feeling." Jack shrugged.

"What?" Judy and Skye asked the buck bunny in unison.

"Back before Hannah came out I saw the way she looked at Robyn, I could tell she was in love." Jack revealed, sounding positive.

"And how did you know it was a look of love?" Skye asked, sounding doubtful.

"Because it's the same look you give me right before you say 'I love you'." Jack played with a smooth smile.

Skye crouched a little and gifted a peck on her husband's cheek before saying "After all these years you still know how to make me swoon."

"Excuse me chief," A white stallion detective by the name of Maximus Corona alerted "we're ready to start the briefing."

"Thanks Maximus." Judy replied with a nod, she walked to the side of the projector screen along with Jack and Skye. Judy signalled Maximus to start the power point, an image of both the ZPD and MCB insignias appeared on the screen "Ladies and gentlmammals, today marks the launch of a joint investigation between the ZPD and MCB to help solve the string of murders that have struck the city since the wave." Judy began

"Now we're going to have to work as a team to solve this," Skye continued "so that means we're going to leave that petty feds and cops rivalry crap at home, when you're on the clock you fully support everyone on this investigation and if anyone is caught breeching this rule you'll answer to either me or Chief Wilde."

"Ok, so we've got a total of fourteen murdered mammals found all over Zootopia," Jack interjected, at that moment a map of Zootopia came up on screen with fourteen red crosses "both prey and predator, all killed by having their heads' submerged in water. We are classing this as a serial killer case, so we need to find this sick bastard before any more mammals wind up dead."

"There is no apparent links between the victims, there seems to be no targeting of specific genders, sexuality, species, faith or class. This killer is selecting mammals at random." Judy told the crowd of determined detectives and agents, the power point then showed an image of fourteen different portraits of mammals, taken when they were still alive.

"What about forensic evidence?" Maximus spoke up.

"Well the MCB has had no real luck on the forensic side," Skye answered truthfully "but luckily precinct 1 has a genius in this field; Basil Dawson, will you please take over?"

Soon enough a slim brown mouse in his early fifties emerged on top of the projector the power point was coming from "Good morning everyone," Basil announced, making sure his voice was loud enough for the bigger mammals to hear "and let me just start by saying this; we are not dealing with a single killer."

There was a shared gasp among all in the room including Judy, Skye and Jack. All of them flabbergasted by the revelation "How could you know that? You've only had the MCB case files a few hours?" Jack asked, sounding bewildered.

"Well my old friend prepared to be amazed," Basil grinned up at the rabbit "there were multiple factors that lead me to this conclusion; the times of death, the species of each victim but what sealed the deal was the rope."

"The rope?" Judy questioned, her nose scrunching up.

"You see every victim had been found with their hands tied around their back, the only difference is how the knot of the rope was tied." Basil unveiled, jumping off the projector onto the laptop controlling the power point and tapping his foot on the return button for the next slide showing the three wrists of dead mammals bound by rope. "Victim A was a 36 year old female rhino, her wrists were tied together by a relatively simple stopper knot, but please note the slight tears in the rope which indicate the rope was handled by a mammal with sharp claws."

"So we're looking for a predator perpetrator?" Skye asked, sounding unsure due to Basil's nature of explaining things.

"Not quite," Basil smiled, he enjoyed showing off his intellect "Victim B is a 42 year old male stoat, as we can see he is ensnared in a what appears to be a midshipman's hitch knot, a common rope knot in the sport of sailing, also there are no claws marks on this rope meaning that is very unlikely that a predator handled this rope."

"That's still circumstantial, the murderer could know many different knots." Judy critiqued, looking at the case from all possible angles.

"True," Basil accepted with a smirk "but the evidence that sealed the deal for me was Victim C, a 19 year old male camel, this poor fellow's wrists were secured using a Dutch Marine bowline knot, a knot that is most favoured by left handed mammals."

There was a murmur of excitement and realisation at these words, no one was more amazed than Jack Savage "The first two victims were restrained using right handed knots." Jack marvelled at Basil's deduction "So we're dealing with a duo of killers."

"If only Jack," Basil sighed, his face actually showing concern "in my personal opinion you've got a brood of serial killers in our fair city."

000

It was a quarter to three on a Monday afternoon in the Bunker, in the armoury Robin senior and Marian were prepping their induction exercise for the new recruits while in the small kitchen by the bunk room Oliva was sat on the kitchen counter staring at her idle smartphone with an irritated face, her tail swishing causing her tail piercing to clack against the marble worktop "Stupid rat." She grumbled.

"Who's a stupid rat?" Luna asked, appearing in the doorway.

"Eeeeeeeeeh!" Olivia screeched in shock at her best friend's sudden appearance.

"Chill, it's just me." Luna laughed at the mouse's reaction "What's got you so worked up?"

"Nothing." Olivia replied, lying through her front teeth.

"So why are you looking at your phone like some lovesick high schooler?" Luna taunted, her brush wagging with mischief.

"It's dumb." Olivia tried to bury the subject.

"Dumb can be interesting." Luna played "Come on tell me, we've always told each other stuff."

"You're throwing down the nostalgia card, seriously?" Oliva tried to guilt trip…and failed.

"Tell me." Luna reiterated.

"Fine but don't get mad at me," Olivia warned "I did something speciest on Saturday morning."

"Ugh, again?" Luna reacted with a disapproving tone "Let me guess it was a Rat?"

"Yeah remember that Jerboa I hooked up with at the club? Well I snuck out of his place and went to get a coffee, I left my phone in the coffee shop and this Rat chases after me to give me my phone back." Olivia explained, sounding guilty.

"What did you do?" Luna asked, sounding critical.

"I thought he was trying to mug me so I kicked him in the nuts." Olivia answered, still feeling awful about what she did.

"Oh for the love of…" Luna began but calmed herself "so what happened next?"

"I managed to persuade Blake, that's his name by the way, to let me buy him breakfast to say sorry." Olivia answered "We started talking and he seemed like a really down earth kind of guy, he said he forgave me and I can't believe I'm saying this but he's kinda' sexy."

"You've got the hots for a rat?" Luna asked with a arched eyebrow.

"I know right?" Olivia agreed with Luna's scepticism "Anyway I gave him my number but the dumb rat hasn't messaged me yet."

A massive grin grew on Luna's face as she cooed "Aww Olivia."

"What's with that stupid grin?" Olivia questioned, having a suspicion of what her friend was thinking.

"You like him!" Luna sang.

"No, absolutely not!" Olivia denied "Wanting to hook up with someone is vastly different to liking someone."

"Is that so, so why don't you just go out and find another handsome rat?" Luna smirked.

"Well…I…uh, well I need to make it up to Blake for the whole kicking him in the junk thing." Olivia gave a terrible excuse.

"Ah yes, sex is the perfect way to say sorry." Luna replied with sarcasm "Face it Olivia, you want him for more than a little bit of nookie."

"As if," Olivia lied "relationships aren't for me, I'm too busy to have a boyfriend, plus it would be annoying having one."

"Oh yeah it's such a pain being having such a caring, devoted and loving boyfriend like Aleks." Luna continued piling on the sarcasm.

"You know what I mean, I'm not like you, I'm not like my Dads either…maybe I'm just not a long term relationship kind of mammal." Olivia replied sounding sheepish.

"Listen at my Mom and Dad's wedding I remember my Grandpa Stu making a speech and he said something that stuck with me 'Love is a constant force of life, through the good, the bad and the everyday there is always love.'." Luna quoted.

"Nice words but how does that relate to my situation?" Olivia asked.

"That love is a force of nature and no one can escape it, including a little cynic like you." Luna smiled.

"Ugh even that's too sickly sweet even for me." Olivia dismissed.

" **Olivia, Luna come down to armoury, the new recruits are here."** Marian's voice came over the loud speaker.

A minute later Luna walked into the armoury with Olivia on her shoulder; Robin senior and Marian were stood beside the glass cases showcasing old uniforms while Robyn, Hannah, Kodi and Kion were in front them lined up like soldiers. The recruits were dressed in sports gear except Kion who was shirtless and wearing what looked to be black swim shorts. "Why have I got to wear these?" Kion asked, feeling self conscious.

"I invented those little beauties you're wearing," Olivia informed "they stretch to adapt to your size when you transform, so you don't give everyone a free strip show."

"Oh, thanks." Kion replied, still embarrassed by the fact his friends had seen in nude.

"Ok before we get started Luna wants to say a few words." Robin senior said, looking to his eldest granddaughter.

Luna was silent as she walked over to the largest glass case containing green camo body armour for a large mammal and a boa staff, she took a breath before saying "This was the armour of Little John, a mammal who was killed trying to do the right thing."

"What?" Robyn gasped "Little John died of a heart attack." The teen remembered being at the funeral for the old family friend **.**

"According to the coroner we bribed yes, but in truth he was murdered by a heartless criminal." Luna revealed, her voice tinged with grief "I want you to look at this armour and think about what you are getting into, you could die on the streets, if you ever feel like this is too much don't be afraid to take a break or quit, don't let this life take over your everyday one."

"Lu…" Robyn sympathised, seeing the hurt in her sister's amber eyes and knowing that there was more to this story.

"Right," Luna changed the subject, shaking off the sadness "it's time for your codenames and personas."

"Don't we pick our own codenames?" Kodi asked.

"What like Krafty Kodi is going to work?" Hannah snorted.

"These codenames represent your personalities and the persona of the mammal who will bring justice to the city." Robin senior answered "Remember that both criminals and honest citizens will know you by these, so own these names and make them yours."

"All right so what's mine?" Robyn asked sounding hyped.

Robyn senior approached his youngest grandchild put a paw on her shoulder and spoke "Your power makes you immortal, you can be shot, stabbed and slammed into the ground and get up to keep fighting despite being covered in blood, the name I chose for you represents the blood you will give to help this city; you are The Undying Scarlet…or just Scarlet for short."

"The Undying Scarlet," Robyn repeated with her eyes shining brightly "I love it! Oh man I sound like a hero out of a kung fu movie."

Olivia then cut in "Kodi."

"Yeah?" The young wolf replied.

"I came up with your persona, I did some research on you and found out you've got skills in street magic." Olivia informed with a smile.

"Guilty as charged." Kodi replied with a flash of his canines.

"Well I'm going to load you up with so much tech that you'll make every thug in the city think you're a master of magic, you'll be the ultimate street magician, you'll be; The Mage." Olivia announced.

"Oooh I like it." Kodi replied, already thinking it was better than Krafty Kodi.

"As for you Hannah your name was rather easy to come up with," Marian spoke to the striped hybrid "You move like a dancer even when you are firing a gun, you cut through the air with speed, accuracy and brutality. Bullet, that is going to be your name."

"Bullet? But I don't want to kill people." Hannah worried.

"Fear not, we're already working on some none lethal guns for you." Marian eased.

"Bullet, I think it suits me." Hannah commented with warmth.

"And me?" Kion spoke up.

"Yours was easy as well," Olivia grinned "the night you transformed I could hear you roar half a mile away, it was unlike anything I've ever heard and when criminals hear that sound they will quake in their boots as Roar approaches."

"Roar?" Kion repeated "It sounds…powerful."

"Exactly, you're going to be the strongest member of the team and your name reflects that." Olivia smiled.

"Well now that's taken care of shall we start with the first test?" Robin senior gave a devilish grin.

"Ooh this is going to be fun." Olivia chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember our first test, man I panicked like hell." Luna remembered.

"What's this test?" Robyn asked, sounding curious.

"It's a simple test to help us gauge how much training you need." Marian replied, going over to the melee weapon wall and taking two batons off the wall.

"Oh right, so it's a fitness test?" Kodi guessed.

"Not exactly." Robin senior was finding it hard not to laugh, as he retrieved a bow and a quiver of arrows from off the wall.

"Here are the rules," Luna said aloud "you will be given a five second head start and then Nana and Granddad are going to try and subdue you as fast as they can using force."

"What?" Robyn scoffed, thinking this was a joke.

Robin senior responded to the scoff by firing off an arrow in the blink of an eye, the arrow whistling between Robyn's long ears and embedding itself in the door frame of the armoury entrance. The recruits gave a collective gasp with Robyn feeling weak at the knees when she realised how close the arrow was to striking her skull. "You should be running." Marian advised with a devilish grin, twirling her batons.

The four friends looked at each other with shared panic "5." Luna called out. The four teens bolted for the door "4." They scrambled through the exit "3." They scattered in different directions "2." Robin senior got a fresh arrow ready. "1!" Marian charged through the door first with her husband close behind, she could spot Hannah heading for the bunk area.

"I'll take Hannah and Kion." Marian relayed to her husband before giving chase.

"Right." Robin sr. replied, noticing Kodi run up the spiral driveway towards the bunker entrance. "Trying to get the high ground eh?" he sniggered before firing a grapple arrow upwards it latched onto the level just above Kodi was running, Robin sr. pressed the button on his bow that let him zip upwards and by the time he reached the height Kodi was already there and looked terrified to see him.

"Crap." Kodi whined, before turning on his heel and trying to run away.

Robin sr let out a tut before firing an electro shock arrow into the wolf's back sending him crashing to the floor and him writhing in pain "That was too easy." Robin sr sighed, disappointed the larger canine hadn't even tried to fight back.

Back in the bunk area Hannah was well aware of the footsteps approaching and felt panic, so much so that she ran into a hallway with no exit apart from the one she entered through. Click, clack, click, clack…that sound reverberated on the walls, it was Marian knocking her batons on the concrete walls to freak the dancer out and it was working. Hannah put up her fists ready for a fight as she sensed Marian was only eight feet away. "Let's see your moves." Marian taunted before darting at Hannah with an overhead swing but she missed, then tried to follow up with a blow to the back but she missed again, for about ten seconds Hannah continued to dodge Marian's attacks with the grace of a ballerina until Marian spotted her chance she stomped on Hannah's tail causing her to wail and be distracted from the next strike; Marian hit one of her batons into Hannah's gut winding her and leaving her on the floor in defeat "Owwwwwwwww." Hannah hissed clutching her paws to her stomach.

"Not bad, you lasted longer than Luna did." Marian complimented before turning around in pursuit of Kion, but she didn't have to look far. As soon as she stepped back into the main atrium of the bunker Kion was there fully transformed and ready for a fight.

"Standing your ground? Brave but stupid." Marian barbed, looking up at the 13ft titan like lion.

"Bullets bounce off me, what do you think those little sticks can do?" Kion blustered, trying to be intimidating.

"Oh Roar, you should never be scared of the weapon, you should fear the mammal wielding it." Marian bantered before throwing both batons at the giant's face, the sticks hit but didn't do any damage.

"See? You can't hurt me." Kion replied.

"Look down dear." Marian smirked.

Kion looked to the floor to see a gas grenade with it's pin missing, before Kion could react the grenade exploded and the sleeping gas enveloped Kion, who fell to the floor within three seconds. "All muscle, no brain." Marian laughed to herself.

Down in the gym level of the bunker Robin sr. was searching for Robyn, he knew she was in here, it was the only place he hadn't searched yet. With his bow drawn he entered the seemingly empty room and listened carefully for any movement…then he heard a scratch of a claw above him. Robin sr. looked up to the rafters to see Robyn hiding, he fired off a lethal arrow that pierced her leg "Arghhhh!" Robyn yelled as she fell back to the ground.

Robin sr got another arrow ready and aimed it at the girl "Didn't have you down as the hiding type."

"What the hell Grandad? You used a real arrow on me!?" Robyn griped, pulling the arrow out of calf with it healing up quickly.

"You're immortal, get over it." Robin sr. joked.

"Ok so you win." Robyn pouted, looking at her leg as the wound closed up.

"Not yet." Robin sr stated, aiming the bow once again at her.

"Whoa! Hold up! I give up!" Robyn protested with a scared voice, holding her paws up.

Robin senior fired off the arrow and it shot into Robyn's left paw causing her to scream in utter pain "SHIIIIIIIT!"

"A real criminal won't listen to your pleas, they won't give up until you are dead." Robin sr professed "If you think the pain you're feeling now is the worst you've ever felt well then you are in for a nasty surprise because it's only going to get worse when you're on the street, so if you can't handle it quit now!"

Robyn pulled the arrow out of her hand with tears in her navy eyes all the while soaking up her Grandfather's words, he wasn't just testing her skills he was testing her spirit too. Robyn threw the bloody arrow to the floor, looked her Granddad in the eye and growled "I'm not giving up!"

"Good." Robin sr smiled, offering his paw to help Robyn up which she took. This was going to be the toughest thing Robyn and her friends had experienced in their young lives.

000

Among the children of the Meadowlands a scary story had begun to circulate since the, a tale of a monster who roamed the neighbourhood at night and slept under a bridge damaged by the quake. There had been many dares given for kids to go and look for the monster at it's home under the bridge but as soon as anyone brave enough got a close a beastly bellow "GO AWAY!" was heard and they would flee in terror.

But today the monster had not been disturbed during it's slumber, when it rose from it's makeshift bed of old bedding clumped together it peeked outside to see the sun setting, the monster only left the bridge at night, it was easier to move unseen, to find food in dumpsters behind fast food restaurants. The Monster waited until the moon was shining before venturing out of it's hiding place, it stood just over twelve feet tall with it's entire form shrouded in rags so no one could see it's monstrous form that had scared so many. _Moon's out, look for food now, keep away from roads, roads have mammals, mammals get scared…I don't want to scare them_ The monster thought as it made it's way down the riverbank, it didn't know how long it had been living under the bridge, but it knew it hadn't been long. The monster knew it used to be somebody, the monster knew it once had a name…but it couldn't remember it's name or anything about it's life before waking up on this riverbank. A gust of wind fluttered rubbish towards the monster with a newspaper hitting it in the face, the monster pulled the newspaper off it's face and looked at the Headline; **Wilde and Clearwater in bid to lead City!** And below the headline was a picture of sharp dressed middle aged fox and a mid twenties deer posing in front of city hall. "Wilde?" The monster muttered, feeling like it was familiar somehow. The Monster then read the start of the article; _Nick Wilde has announced he is running for mayor of Zootopia with Sherwood community leader Alana Clearwater as his running mate. Wilde, a experienced SWAT Captain with the ZPD…_ The Monster froze when it read that last acronym "ZPD? I know what that is! Why do I know that?" The Monster asked itself, trying to remember "Did I work there?...No. But someone did…ARGH!" A shot of pain surged through the monster's skull causing it to fall to the ground, it hurt to remember but pain of not knowing who you were was much worse. "Who am I?" The monster wept, tears soaking the rags that covered it's face.

(AN/ Who is the monster? Will the recruits survive training? Will Nick and Alana be elected!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!)


	13. Debut

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. Thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. As always a big shout out to the soc development team who helped create this chapter and a massive cheers to Aussie who beta read this chapter. Anyway folks we have a discord server but for some reason I can't put a link on the story page so come to my tumblr page; Crewefox and type in discord to find out more details. Anyway without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 12- Debut**

Three weeks of solid combat training by two of the most infamous vigilantes ever, is as hellish as it sounds. Every afternoon at 3.30PM, the recruits would arrive at the bunker for four hours of intense training and on each day, Marian and Robin senior would dare the kids to quit…But none of them did, despite all the sprains, cuts and bruises. However, these training sessions were not just for putting the teen heroes through physical hell; for the three that had powers, Luna and Olivia had been running tests on them to see what exactly their powers did and how far they could push them.

Robyn's nanomachines were primarily focused on rapid healing, as Luna pointed out a few weeks earlier. Could she survive a strike to the heart or the brain? Luna had attempted to do a biopsy of Robyn's heart, but as soon as she conducted an incision and insert a probe, the nanomachines would force it out and seal up the wound, so the answer still eluded them.

Hannah's abilities to sense things around her like 'Static' had been researched by Olivia, who discovered that the nanomachines were reacting to any pulses of electricity in a 360 degree field around her. When these pulses hit an object, it would transmit to the young hybrid's brain thus mapping the area surrounding her. In a few previous field tests, it was indicated that the furthest distance she could describe using her pulse ability was just under half a mile. Another interesting thing discovered was that Hannah had a healing factor like Robyn, although it reacted much slower; after she had broken her wrist from a strike by Marian during a sparring session, it had managed to heal itself within two hours.

Kion attributes, when he was in 'Roar' mode were interesting too. His skin could withstand knifes, bullets, buckshot and essentially everything else. Although internally, his organs would take damage from the massive vibrations caused by an explosion, thus making it clear that Kion was not invincible. What impressed everyone in the team was Kion's strength. He could easily lift Kodi's pick up truck over his head, so Olivia decided to bring him to one of her Dawson tech manufacturing plants after closing and test his strength on a huge hydraulic press machine, to test how much pressure and weight he could handle. Kion managed to handle 71 metric tons of pressure before yelling for Olivia to stop the machine.

Kodi the only new recruit without powers had been going through a rigorous hand to hand combat regime set out by Marian, focusing on moves that could disarm and quickly subdue an opponent, he was a quick learner and even when he got his ass kicked, he would just make a joke, and then get back on his feet. Kodi's truck had also been going through some changes too, with Robin senior and Olivia both working on modifying the pick up truck to become the team's vehicle on missions. It had been in Robin senior's hands for nearly two weeks, and Kodi was starting to miss his 'pride and joy'.

Olivia had kept her promise about loading Kodi up with tech, it was actually mind boggling to the wolf that these sort of inventions existed. The first weapon in Kodi's arsenal were three decks of cards, each of these seemingly classic looking decks had a different colour on the back; the black cards were laced with a potent sleep serum, that when it hit an enemy, it could soak through fur and thin fabric. Kodi was immune to the serum thanks to an immunisation shot from Luna. The gold cards would electrify enemies upon contact and the silver cards would combust like flash grenades once they were thrown. Another interesting tool that Olivia had given him was belt that when activated would bend light around him effectively cloaking him, to activate the cloaking device he would have to use a voice command 'Evanescet' the latin word for disappear.

But the coolest gadget Kodi had been given was 'The Wand', styled like a classic magician's wand Olivia created this device to work in tandem with the modified domino mask, which Kodi would wear whilst crimefighting. The mask would display a HUD, similar to a first person video game. Through the clear lenses covering the eyes, the the HUD would display any electrical object he could manipulate with the wand,with a few options. For example, if he wanted to make the lights turn off or a car to stop suddenly, he could do that by pointing at the object and pressing one of three buttons to perform whatever option he chose.

Athough, today, when the recruits descended down to the bunker through a secret elevator in the abandoned shack, they were not focused on the upcoming training session, but on school life; St. Zoo high had reopened and Hannah had begun her first day at the school for the blind and suffice to say had not enjoyed it one little bit.

"I feel like such an idiot when I'm in class." Hannah pitied herself, she and her three friends were all standing in the descending elevator.

"It can't be that bad." Kion commented, trying to sound positive.

"This is a place where High Schoolers, Middle School students and kids from elementary schools all go together. I was in brail class with a bunch of six year olds today because of the lack of teachers due to the wave, it was so humiliating." Hannah confided, hugging her tail for comfort.

"Well you can't expect to be good at brail straight away, Stripes. It'll take some time. Before you know it, you'll be in a class with mammals your own age." Kodi tried to cheer his friend up.

"It's not just learning the alphabet again, it's…" Hannah was finding it hard to describe but Robyn could see her girlfriend's becoming watery like she was going to cry at any moment.

Robyn gently took hold of Hannah's paw and willed "It's what?"

Hannah was quiet for a moment, she wiped away a small tear before confessing "Today is the first time I actually felt disabled, like since I became blind, I've tried my absolute hardest to stay positive about everything, my powers have helped me feel like this isn't a burden. But being in that classroom today, I actually realised how much I've lost."

"Stripes." Kodi muttered, moved by the words so much, he felt like crying.

"I can't even imagine what that must be like, I'm sorry." Kion sympathised.

Robyn let go of Hannah's paw and brought her nearer by putting a paw around the small of her back and grabbing her waist and saying "Now listen to me; losing your sight must be hell but you handled like the most at peace mammal on the planet, but no one can stay positive forever. Some days are going to be shit, that's just the way it is but you don't have to handle it on your own; we're here for you, even the Blind Badass needs a hug sometimes."

Hannah cracked a smile at the dumb name she came up with weeks ago "The name's Bullet now." Hannah sniffed, wiping away any stray tears on her sleeve.

"You'll always be Blind Badass to me." Robyn smiled, booping Hannah's nose before kissing her quickly.

"See this is why you guys are my favourite ship." Kodi smiled down at his two friends.

"And the moment is ruined." Robyn griped, crossing her arms.

"I don't think it's ruined." Hannah replied, putting her head on Robyn's shoulder.

The elevator reached the bunker, the doors opened and the recruits stepped out into the main atrium of the bunker to see Robin senior, Marian and Olivia waiting for them. The tech mogul mouse was standing atop of a fold out table with four holdall bags on it "Good afternoon noobs." Olivia jibed.

"When are you going to stop calling us that?" Kion asked, stepping out of the elevator with the others.

"Probably never." Olivia answered with a cheeky smile.

Robyn had instantly spotted the holdalls and her suspicion had blossomed "So what nasty surprise have you got tucked away in those bags?" she queried, now acclimatised to her grandparents' extreme, odd and sometimes cruel training exercises.

"Nothing, scout's honour." Robin senior answered, doing the scout salute.

"There's no training today." Olivia stated, putting her paws on her hips.

"What?" Hannah queried, sounding doubtful.

"You've graduated training, congratulations kids." Marian clarified, with a prideful look on her muzzle.

"Umm…is this a test?" Kodi asked, expecting Marian and Robin sr. to attack at them any second.

"No this is not a test," Robin sr. laughed off "you've passed our training regime."

"Really?" Kion quizzed, contemplating going elixir mode and bulking up.

"Really, really." Olivia affirmed "You're clear for street patrol."

"Yes!" Robyn hollered, raising her arms in celebration "No more arrows to the back!"

"No more broken bones." Hannah breathed a sigh of relief.

"You guys do realise it's going to be ten times tougher on the streets, right?" Olivia asked, remembering being at that stage of training.

"We know." Kion accepted, holding up his paws.

"And here are your graduation presents," Marian beamed, motioning to the table "these are your uniforms."

"Oh my god…" Robyn gawped, the teen had been wondering what her costume would look like since her measurements were taken weeks ago.

"Take these bags, go get changed but when you come back we won't be calling you by your real names, when you don that uniform you are your alter ego." Robin sr. instructed.

Five minutes later, the recruits trotted out of the bunk area, all in uniform; Robyn was wearing a red and white bodysuit with a hood to hide her ears, a cape and scarf to cover her muzzle to hide her identity, to an outsider she would appear as a normal fox instead of a hybrid. A odd thing Robyn noticed was the golden star stitched into the upper sleeve of her bodysuit, the star was gold and looked like it had come off an old nautical map pointing to north, south, east and west

If Hannah's outfit could be described with two words it would 'Bad Ass', her trousers were simple and simple black, but baggy enough for her odd dancing fighting style. Her upper body was covered by a vest of flexible but bulletproof metal, for which Olivia had spent a fortune acquiring, however on the left side of this vest was a golden nautical star like Robyn's outfit emblazed. Hannah wore a black jacket over the vest which had many magazines of ammo hidden away, her still eyes were covered with a dark blue domino mask with eye holes covered with white plastic to hide the fact she was blind. And in her hands were her dual pistols linked by an extremely tough piece of metallic thread; the reason for the pistols to be linked by this thread was due to a fighting style taught by Marian, Hannah was looking forward to using this trick in her upcoming fights. The pistols themselves didn't look like normal firearms, they looked they were pulled straight out of a video game or sci fi movie, these rapid fire pistols fired special bullets that had a gelatinous tip so when it touched a target it would deliver a tranquilizer that could soak through fabric.

Next up was Kion, who was in elixir mode. The massive white furred lion with his blood red mane was shirtless and wore only black shorts with bulky pockets containing a first aid kit and restraints for criminal but dangling from his belt was golden nautical star that hung like some sort of keychain or lucky charm. On the silver belt buckle the word 'ROAR' was clear to see.

And finally there was Kodi; the most normal looking of the new recruits. His costume seemed rather casual, he was wearing black jeans with a blue t shirt on covered with a black leather jacket that the same gold nautical star covering the back of the jacket. A black beanie was adorned on his head along with the tech filled domino mask that linked with his 'Wand' and of course there was the invisibility belt looped onto his jeans.

"Now you guys look like heroes." Robin sr. complimented, feeling proud of his protégés.

"You guys are going to kick so much arse." Olivia grinned.

"Thanks." Robyn responded, feeling somewhat embarrassed "We actually look like superheroes."

"Um I hate to be 'That guy' but Hannah's identity isn't that secret with her stripes on display." Kion spoke up, pointing to the hybrid's very unique black stripes.

"I had wondered about that." Hannah admitted, knowing she that she would stand out in a crowd.

"Don't worry Dawson tech has you covered," Olivia cut in "did you feel those little aerosol canisters in your kit bag?"

"Yeah, what are they?" Hannah asked.

"One can is full of a white surgical marker used in surgery to mark a incision point, that stuff can't be washed off with water or any cleaning agents." Oliva explained with excitement in her voice "The only way to remove it is with the spray in the second can. So when you spray bottle A on your stripes they'll turn white, so you'll look like a normal arctic fox and if you spray bottle B over the same spot your stripes and they'll come back. I've placed two very distinct smells on the cans the white marker smells like lavender and the remover smells like jasmine."

"So people will think I'm a normal fox…weird." Hannah commented, unsure how to feel about the information she just obtained.

"Say what's with these stars on our uniforms?" Kodi asked, nodding at Robyn's nautical star emblem on her upper arm.

"Yeah, I was wondering that as well." Robyn concurred.

"It is the symbol of your team," Marian stated, walking over and motioning at the star on Hannah's vest "this is the Star of Ceartais."

"Star of Ceartais?" Kodi repeated.

"This is the star of justice," Marian said with conviction "When the innocent mammals of this city see this star, they will find hope and someone to defend them and to those who would prey on the weak, then this star will become a nightmare, for when they see this star, they know it's too late and they're about to be carted off to jail."

"I got to admit that sounds pretty cool, I wish I could see the star." Hannah smiled.

"Ok noobs, enough chit chat," Olivia broke the feel good atmosphere "Go home, eat something and take a nap if you can because at 11pm your shift begins."

"Wait shift?" Robyn questioned.

"Of course, the 11pm to 4am shift. Standard crime fighting hours." Robin sr. answered, loving the perplexed faces on the faces on the rookies' faces.

"But we have school in the morning!" Hannah protested.

"So quit, we told you this job would be tiring." Marian smirked before adding "You'll be working in pairs; Roar and Bullet I want you two in Savannah Central, Scarlet and Mage I need you two to patrol what's left of Sahara Square, understood?"

"Yes." The four teens accepted, each sounding intimidated.

"Oh Mage before I forget," Robin sr. said, walking over to Kodi and holding up the keys to the pick up truck "I parked your truck in an old garage in Sahara Square, I've marked it's location on your nav."

"Thanks Hood," Kodi smiled, happy he was on nickname basis with the elderly hero "So, what have you done to my baby?"

"Oh when you see her you won't recognise her," Robin sr. told with surety "She's as beautiful as a shooting star."

000

Kion stepped off the nice air conditioned bus, about 200 metres from his apartment building, only to feel the sticky humid heat hit him like a slap in the face. Savannah central was going through a heat wave at the moment hitting, at least 38 degrees Celsius for the last three days. The weather control plant that controlled Zootopia's delicate ecosystems was damaged during the wave and engineers had only managed to repair Tundra town, Sahara Square and the Rainforest district's weather control system so far, so that meant the three remaining districts were bearing the brunt of the extraordinary hot Californian summer.

"It's too hot." The Lion complained to himself, his holdall with his uniform was slung on his shoulder as he walked to his building.

"Kion!" A voice called out, it was a voice Kion knew all too well; his mother's.

Kion looked to the parking lot to see his Mom, Nala, stood outside her police cruiser in full uniform with Clawhauser in the passenger seat looking on. "Great…" Kion mumbled, not in the mood for any confrontation right now.

"So this is where you've been hiding?" Nala asked rhetorically, her demeanour was not her usual confident one this one looked skittish and a little bit afraid.

"Not hiding, living." Kion clarified, stopping in his tracks.

"So…how have you been?" Nala tried to ease into the conversation.

"Small talk? That's what you're trying right now?" Kion called out, sounding frustrated.

"I just want to know if my son is ok." Nala protested.

"…I'm fine." Kion responded feeling a small flicker of a guilt for a second.

"Good…that's good." Nala said, looking at her feet before saying "So when will you be coming home?"

"I'm not going back there until I find Kiara." Kion forced, noticing his mom's eye twitch at the mention of 'Kiara'

"Kion...just come home, we can be a family again. Please." Nala tried to move past the argument.

"It's not a family without Kiara." Kion defied.

"You think I don't want her back? All I want is to have both my cubs back in my life." Nala replied, her voice raspy.

"Look Mom, I think it's better if I stay away from home for a while, it's not going to do any of us any good if we just argue all the time." Kion tried to stay diplomatic despite feeling anger towards his mother.

Nala looked like she was about to snap a response but she reigned in her emotions and replied with "I understand…but how are you affording this place?"

"I got a job." Kion glossed over "Don't worry it's not affecting my schoolwork."

"I see." Nala said, knowing that pursuing for more info would likely be a bad idea.

"I've got homework to do, I'll see you around." Kion lied, wanting to end the conversation. He carried on walking for the building door.

"I miss her too, Kion." Nala called after "But it's been nearly two months, I'm sorry but she's gone."

Kion felt his anger boiling in his chest but held himself back from shouting at his mother, with his back still to Nala he said "Kiara wasn't at the army barracks the night she went missing, she was in the industrial area of the canal district."

"W-what?" Nala gasped.

"You should use the ZPD cameras to see if you can spot anything." Kion advised in a blunt manner, opening the security door.

"Wait Kion, how do you…" Nala began to ask with urgency but Kion slammed the door in her face before marching up the stairs to his apartment he shared with Jasiri. When he got to his floor he was still in an infuriated state of mind.

 _Why the hell did she have to show up!? She thinks that we can play happy families after what she did!? She didn't even say sorry! Wait…what's that sound?_ Kion could hear a very distinct tune coming from his apartment, it was one of his favourite songs; Sally Cinnamon by The Stone Roses. He unlocked the door to his home to find the sound system in the centre of the living room belting out the song about a love letter from the vinyl record spinning atop of the turntable.

" _There is something here you must show me, from what are you made._ " Jasiri's voice sang along with the record and she didn't sing with her South African accent. It almost sounded like she was trying to imitate the singer's Manchester accent. Kion's anger slipped away as he listened to Jasiri sing, following her voice into the kitchen, finding her behind the kitchen island preparing a salad as she continued to sing " _Sugar and spice, and all things nice, sent to me from heaven, Sally Cinnamon, you are my world."_

"Not bad." Kion gave a goofy smile, hearing his crush sing had cooled the fiery rage he felt minutes before.

"Oh hey," Jasiri smiled, looking up from chopping veggies "I didn't hear you come in. Hope you don't mind me playing some of your records."

"That's what they are for, I just didn't picture you as fan of music from the last century." Kion said, setting his holdall down.

"Neither did I, I mean this song is from the nineties right? I mean most of your albums are from then, so why do you like that era so much?" Jasiri asked, fixing a stray hair from her mane.

"Actually this song is from 1987." Kion corrected "And as for liking the Brit pop and Madchester genres, I don't know why I like them so much, it's not like I'm English but they just make me feel something."

"Feel something? Like emotions?" Jasiri probed.

"Yeah, modern music doesn't really make me feel anything but these old tunes do." Kion described, listening to the song end and move onto the tune on the record.

"Well you've made a fan of me," Jasiri commented "I made us a chicken salad for dinner, it's way too hot to have a big meal."

"I know right? I've been sweating my butt off all day." Kion concurred, it still felt stifling in the apartment despite all the windows being open and him being dressed in a thin vest and shorts.

Jasiri walked out from behind the kitchen island and towards the fridge but Kion's mouth went dry and his brown eyes bulged as he saw what the hyena was wearing, or most appropriately not wearing; she wasn't wearing any shorts or a skirt, the only thing covering her up were her jet black knickers that were tight across her toned rear and showed off her curvaceous allure. "So what dressing do you want with the salad? Mustard or balsamic vinegar?" She asked, opening the fridge.

"I, uh…" Kion couldn't form a sentence all he could focus on was on Jasiri's lower body, he had never seen a girl in her underwear before and it had paralyzed him…well not all of him.

"Kion, you ok?" Jasiri asked looking at the lion, she then suddenly gasped and turned around so her back was turned to him "Oh god…"

"W-what's up?" Kion managed to ask.

"Oh, um, how do I put this?" Jasiri asked herself, sounding halfway bashful and the other half suppressing a laugh "You're pitching a tent right now."

"Huh? Pitching a tent?" Kion repeated before realising what she meant, he looked down to his crotch and was horrified to see he had a very noticeable erection. Kion bolted out of the kitchen yelling "I'm so sorry!" never feeling so embarrassed in his entire life, he made his way to the bathroom with haste and shut the door with a loud slam. He made his way to the shower and turned it onto it's coldest setting. He looked down at crotch and snarled "Why did you do that!? We were having a nice moment and you get excited!? What the hell is up with you!?" he got undressed and stepped into the freezing cold shower to calm himself down while feeling anxious at the thought of things being awkward between him and his roommate for a while.

000

No matter how many times Luna stepped into her therapist's office she still felt a little sense of shame, she knew logically that there was no shame in seeking help regarding mental health but yet the feeling was still there. She had just come from work, where she had a busy yet productive day in surgery, Luna specialized in paediatric general surgery, she was always warm and friendly to her young patients who were scared of going down into the operating theatre but her caring nature always seemed to calm them down. She sat down on the sofa opposite from where her anger management therapist was sitting in his usual armchair, he was torch key raccoon by the name of Dr. Thrash. When Luna had first heard the name she thought it sounded like a rock star's name not like a therapist, he was dressed in a red and black t shirt with a pair of jeans and wore his usual welcoming smile "So how was your day Luna?" he asked, his pad and pencil in hand ready to write down any notes.

"Work was fine, it was busy but not stressful." The vixen answered honestly but still seemed apprehensive.

"That's good to hear," Thrash nodded "so are you going to tell me what's bothering you or are we going to dance around the issue for ten minutes?"

"How did you know something was bothering me?" Luna asked, playing with paws nervously.

"I've been your therapist for four years now, I can tell when you're upset." Thrash pointed out, trying to sound friendly.

"More like scared." Luna mumbled but Thrash heard her clearly.

"Did something happen?" He asked, arching an eyebrow "Are things ok with you and Aleks?"

"Things with Aleks are great but…." Luna started but was reluctant to continue.

"But?" Thrash urged.

"He's been working the night shift this week, so we haven't been falling asleep at the same times." Luna explained "Long story short; I've been getting the nightmares again."

"I see, how long has it been since you last had a series of nightmares?" Thrash asked, his concern clear in his voice.

"Nearly five months, before I got together with Aleks." Luna revealed, seeming timid.

"You think there is link between your new nightmares and Aleks' absence?" Thrash guessed, jotting down some notes.

"Yeah, when I'm with Aleks in bed I feel safe, it's just me and him. And when I'm alone it's me and her." Luna answered, hugging her tail.

At the mention of 'Her' Dr. Thrash gave a very audible sigh before saying "I'd wish you'd stop referring to your past self as a separate entity."

"She is a different mammal, I'm not her." Luna parried.

"But you were, and you've changed. Mammals can change for the better Luna, just like you did." Thrash countered "I'm one of the few mammals that know about your time as Andraste, how you helped innocent civilians and stopped criminals doing heinous things."

"But no one was there to stop Andraste doing something bad." Luna grumbled, hugging tighter onto her tail.

"You can't change what happened, you made a mistake." Thrash comforted.

"Andraste destroyed mammals' lives, I'd hardly call it a mistake." Luna replied bitterly.

"Luna you are Andraste, those are your mistakes." Thrash stated.

"Don't call me that! I'm not her!" Luna snarled, baring her fangs but Thrash wasn't fazed by the sign of aggression, Luna realised that she lost her temper and said genuinely "Sorry about that."

"It's ok, this is a free space to let your anger out." Thrash assured "We can come back to your identity issues some other time but for now tell about these nightmares."

Luna composed herself before beginning with her tale "So Andraste is in her uniform, swinging from rooftop to rooftop with her grapple arrows when she spots a gang chasing some mammal. Usually she'd use tranq arrows to stop them but she uses explosive ones, she launches herself into the air and fires three explosive arrows at once killing the gang members all the while she has this expressionless look on her face, like she doesn't care what she's doing. And then Andraste sees the innocent mammal being chased and it's someone I know."

"Who did you see?" Thrash asks, taking detailed notes of the dream.

"My mother…my birth mother; Victoria." Luna confessed, choking up.

Thrash seemed surprised by this but calmly asked "And this scared you?"

"Yes," Luna agreed, feeling a lump in my throat "I never wanted Mommy to see Andraste, and that's when I realised that Mommy knew what Andraste did. She said she would be my guardian angel always looking out for me, so she must've seen what Andraste did that night in the rainforest district."

"Luna listen I know you're very guarded regarding the issue of your mother's death but dwelling upon about what she'd think about your mistake won't do you any good and only sour the memory of her for you." Thrash advised.

"What should I do?" Luna asked, sounding desperate.

"First of all you need to accept that you are Andraste, and secondly I think you need to talk to a family member or Aleks about your mistake." Thrash instructed.

"How will that help?" Luna questioned, forcing herself not to cry.

"The appearance of your mother in your dreams is likely the representation of your fear that your family will somehow find out about your mistake, so by telling one of them it may allay this fear." Thrash hypothesised.

"But that can't happen! If they learn about Andraste it could change everything!" Luna panicked.

"Your grandparents and your best friend know about what happened and they still love you," Thrash assured "have faith in your loved ones that they will understand and accept your mistake."

Luna contemplated the notion, but how could her family accept something that even she couldn't handle.

000

Jack Savage felt like punching a wall right about now, it had been three weeks since the start of the serial killer case and nothing had been accomplished, no new leads, no evidence and no new theories. The only things that were new was the media coverage that was labelling the MCB and ZPD as incompetent and the six new bodies that had shown up since the investigation began. Jack was sat at his temporary desk at precinct 1's mammalcide office looking at a map of the city, with red pins marking where the bodies had been found trying to sense a pattern. All the bodies had been found in areas with zero security footage and they had always been nestled in buildings damaged by the wave. Jack looked at his watch it was close to 11pm, he could hear Skye on the phone talking to MCB headquarters requesting more resources to help with the case. He sighed to himself thinking about how this case had dented their home life and that they weren't spending as much time with Hannah as they ought to be, it had been her first day at her new school today and Jack felt a knot of guilt in gut over not being there to pick her up from school or cook her a meal. Jack had called Hannah about how her day went and she replied that it was ok and that she was spending time with her friends. Even though appeared Hannah was fine Jack still felt like a crappy dad at this moment, he listened to his wife try and wrangle for more forensic teams and empathised with the amount of stress she was under, he was honestly thinking about faking food poisoning tomorrow and convincing Skye to lie along with him so they could have a day off.

"Agent Savage." A voice spoke up.

Jack broke from his thoughts and saw the tall stallion detective Maximus Corona looking down at him "Oh hey Corona, what's up?"

"Something odd just came in on dispatch," Maximus cut to the chase "there was a report of five mammals being bundled into a van by masked assailants not far from where we found the first batch of bodies in Sahara Square."

"The Warehouse district?" Jack mused "Any beat cops checking it out?"

"No, everyone else is busy, I was thinking we should check it out." Maximus proposed.

"Sounds like a plan." Jack agreed, getting off his chair and following the horse. Neither of them knowing that this would be the break in the case and one of the most disturbing nights of their lives.

000

Hannah was stood on the roof of small office building in her hero uniform, the feeling of excitement was causing her heart to beat faster. She heard Kion transform down below before jumping up to the top of the building and join her on the roof. "You're early." Roar spoke, his voice was much deeper when he was in Elixir mode.

"What can I say? I'm excited." Bullet replied, sensing the giant beside her.

"That stuff Spitfire gave you covers your stripes so well, you look like your Mom." Roar commented.

"I'll take that as a compliment, my Mom is very pretty for a vixen in her fifties." Bullet chuckled.

"So…what do we do now?" Roar asked, wondering where to start with the whole 'Saving the day' thing.

"Well…" Bullet dragged, unsure herself.

But luckily Bullet's enhanced hearing gave them an answer " _Put the money is the bag dickhead!"_

"I think I've found our first job." Bullet grinned.

About half a mile away in a small family run convenience store a gang of six Razor members were raiding the store, one tapir was watching the door holding a shotgun, two other members both Kangaroos were grabbing all the liquor they could and loading it into bags. The three other thugs were at the counter, a black bear held a machete in front of two Anteaters who were mother and daughter both of them on their knees and holding onto one another for comfort, the two other Razors were behind the counter with a porcupine loading cigarettes and lottery scratch cards into a bag and an ox with a revolver to a male Anteater's skull "Put the money in the bag dickhead!" he bellowed.

"Ok, ok," The Anteater shopkeeper said with a trembling voice "just don't hurt my family."

"You do as you're told and they'll be fine." The Ox smirked, watching as the anteater loaded hundreds of dollars into the bag, when the cash register was empty the Ox hollered "All right boys move out!"

The Razors whooped and cheered as they charged out of the convenience store while the Anteater shopkeeper rushed over to his wife and daughter and embraced them in a hug. The Razors ran for a silver Mercedes benz sprinter van parked outside the store, they opened the side door and put in their loot, the gang were about to pile in when they heard a thud atop of the vehicle, they looked up to a white vixen wearing a blue domino mask and dressed in black looking down at them "Good evening gents." Bullet smiled with mischief.

"What the hell!?" One of the Kangaroos gawped.

"She's packing heat!" The tapir shouted, spotting Bullet's twin pistols. The Tapir fired off his shotgun but Bullet dodged the buckshot by flipping through the air and firing a brace of tranq shots, with one of them hitting a Tapir and the other hitting the bear with a machete. Bullet landed on the ground with grace before twirling her body and dealing a pistol whip to one of the kangaroos before shooting the other in the centre of his chest. Whilst Bullet was fighting their fellow cronies, the Porcupine and the Ox got into the front of the van and started the engine to escape the vigilante the Ox put his foot down but got a few feet before a white blur appeared in front of the van and delivered a punch to the front of the van crushing the engine, the dazed Porcupine and Ox looked on in shock and awe as Roar tore off the engine off the main body of the van before growling "Get out!"

The Ox freaked and fired his revolver at Roar, with each bullet pinging off of him, Roar gave a smirk before saying "Do I have to repeat myself?"

The terrified Razors did as they were told and got out of what remained of the van with their hands held high neither of them believing what they were seeing, once they were out Bullet shot them both and they fell to the sidewalk with induced slumber. Bullet started to restrain the Razors with the cable ties she kept in a pouch on her belt while Roar got the stolen goods out of the back of the van. "Oh my goodness." An amazed voice spoke.

Bullet and Roar turned around to see the Anteater family gazing at them with wonder, the daughter had her phone out and was taking a video of the heroes. "Are you guys ok?" Bullet asked, continuing to restrain the gang members.

"Y-yeah we're ok." The Anteater mother answered "Who are you two?"

"I'm Bullet and the big guy's Roar." Bullet greeted with a nod.

Roar placed the bags of stolen money, cigarettes and liquor at the anteater's feet and said "We're sorry about the mess."

"It's…fine." The Shopkeeper said, his eyes trying to comprehend the sheer size of the titan lion.

"Have you called the cops?" Bullet asked formally, finishing binding the last Razor.

"Y-yes, just now." The Shopkeeper answered.

"Good," Roar replied sounding satisfied "tell them that we said hi."

" **Roar, Bullet, you there?"** Marian's frenzied voice came through over the small com link in their ear.

"We're here Maid, what's up?" Bullet answered in to lapel of her jacket where her mic was, wondering what her mentor so worked up.

" **Get to the Warehouse District in Sahara Square ASAP, we've got an emergency!"** Marian replied.

"Are Scarlet and Mage ok?" Bullet jumped to a horrifying conclusion.

" **No it's your Dad, he's in danger!"** Marian dropped the bombshell that made Bullet feel weak at the knees.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Jack's in danger?! So what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC The team find a new foe, Nick and Alana face the media, Olivia manages to find Blake and Sasha Jones gets a somewhat dangerous job. Please review and c ya soon...)


	14. The Drowned

(Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of ceartais. Just a quick reminder that the SOC team has a discord server and anyone looking to come chat can find the link on my tumblr; crewefox and just search for 'discord'. A big thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter and massive thanks to Aussie who beta read this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 13- The Drowned.**

Robyn loved the feeling of leaping from rooftop to rooftop, with her uncanny ability to jump big distances. It made her feel like it was an exhilarating run, only with the added thrill of being up high and feeling like one of those super heroes from thr Saturday morning cartoons she watched at a kit. She was making phenomenal time from her home in Savannah Central, to the meet up spot in an abandoned suburb in Sahara Square. As soon as she crossed the border into the desert-esque neighbourhood, she could clearly notice that it was a lot quieter than the rest of the city. After the wave, 75% of the Sahara Square had been deemed destroyed and no one lived on the coast anymore because no homes were left standing. The most common sights were chain-link fences around ruined buildings, where clean up crews would work tersely during the day. They were still finding bodies nearly two months after the wave. Even the bustling warehouse district near the port was quiet, no ships docked there anymore. Robyn wouldn't describe the area as a ghost town, no; Sahara Square was like a rotting corpse, slowly being eaten away by maggots. The only part of this corpse still alive was Cacti gardens, the part of Sahara Square that had once been deemed the poorest, but with recent events it had become the richest…whilst poverty still quite common.

Robyn didn't go through Cacti gardens on her way to meet Kodi but she could hear it; the sound of light traffic and some music. This actually comforted her, as she raced over the roofs of the mostly destroyed buildings, until she eventually found Kodi in his uniform, waiting outside the garage of an abandoned family home. She landed in front of the wolf with a loud thud and smiled under her scarf/mask "Hey."

"Nice entrance." Mage smiled back.

"I can't believe how hyped I'm feeling right now." Scarlet confessed with giddiness.

"We're going to kick so much ass." Mage smirked, sounding confident.

"Wait where's your truck?" Scarlet asked, looking around.

"I haven't got it out of the garage yet, kinda' wanted to do it with you here." Mage replied, sounding bashful.

"Are you nervous about seeing your baby again?" Scarlet teased.

"Funny." Mage replied dryly.

"Well then, shall we see if Cinderelephant is ready for the ball?" Scarlet continued to playful, motioning to the garage door.

"Let's see if the fairy godmother has worked her magic." Mage played along, sounding a tad apprehensive. He crouched down and pulled the roller shutter door of the garage and instantly felt a five year old on Christmas morning; the pick up truck looked beyond amazing to the petrol head wolf. The truck had been given a new paint job, gone was the factory silver. Now it was as black as midnight, with the same gold nautical star on the bonnet (or hood to north American readers) of the truck and the word 'The Shooting Star' emblazoned on the driver's door. The Mage scurried into the garage and circled the truck, taking in every detail of the vehicle. "She's beautiful." Mage gushed, running his paw across the side of the truck, he could no longer stand waiting and unlocked the door with a press of the fob on the keychain. Kodi opened the door to find that all the seats in both the front and back had been replaced with race car like bucket seats with harnesses, where the Radio had been was a LCD screen. As soon as Kodi entered the vehicle, the dash and the screen lit up. On the screen was the nautical star and a synthesized female voice spoke " **Good evening Mage, Scarlet."**

"Dude did the truck just talk!?" Scarlet asked, jumping back a little.

" **Yes I did."** The voice replied.

Mage looked at the screen and asked excitedly "Are you an AI?"

" **No I am a virtual interface created by Dawson Tech, I was originally designed to work in Hospitals but Spitfire modified me to suit project Ceartias' needs."** The truck replied, her voice was friendly sounding and her accent was local.

"So what do we call you?" Scarlet asked climbing into the passenger seat that was way too big for her, this truck was designed for mammals like Wolves and big cats.

" **Spitfire thought it would be best for Mage to give a designated name seeing as he is the team's main driver."** The truck informed.

"Oh that's easy," Mage grinned "it's gotta' be Bella."

"Huh?" Scarlet sounded.

"It's Spanish for beautiful." Mage clarified, rubbing his paw over the dash "Because that is what she is."

" **Very well my designation is Bella."** The Virtual Interface accepted.

"So Bella what tricks have you got up your sleeve?" Mage asked, itching to know.

" **My weapons and features include caltrops that can puncture the tires of pursuers, an oil slick also completes this task, I am EMP proof, bulletproof glass and tires, I have a harpoon that shoots out from the front of the vehicle, that can pierce through metal and concrete to capture enemy vehicles or move debris. I also possess an advanced security system which means no one but the team can unlock the vehicle. I have more features but we would be here all night."** Bella explained to an enthralled Mage. " **Shall we start your patrol shift?"**

"Uh yeah, I guess." Mage gave a hyped smile as he started the engine.

" **Good, an alarm has been tripped at a ATM machine in Cacti gardens, I suggest you head there."** Bella informed.

Across in Cacti gardens, on one of the balconies of the only apartment towers left standing in Sahara square, were two girls up way past their bedtime, watching a gaggle of crooks trying to get money out of the ATM across the street. One of these girls was Sasha Jones, who was dressed in her PJs, taking pictures of the robbery with her trusty SLR camera. The criminals were using a pick to try and tear the machine out of the wall but the idiots had managed to get the vehicle's scoop stuck in the wall "What dummies." Sasha commented quietly as she continued to snap away.

"Should we call the police?" A Camel girl beside her asked with a whisper, this camel was Ayesha, Sasha's best friend and fellow member of her middle school's photography club. Sasha was sleeping over at her best friend's place when they had heard the rumble of a JCB digger, causing to peek out onto the balcony to investigate.

"No need, those machines are alarmed. The cops will be on their way any second." Sasha answered, zooming in on the would-be thieves and snapping some great shots of them. All four of them were wearing cheap zombie masks you'd get at a costume shop.

"But they'll take ages, cops hardly come around here since the wave." Ayesha huffed, getting out her classic film based camera and taking photos as well.

"What do you wanna' do? Go and fight them ourselves?" Sasha asked sarcastically.

"…We might not need to, but check this out." Ayesha replied, pointing to the other end of a street where a black pick up truck with a gold star on the hood had parked up and two very strangely dressed individuals stepped out.

"What the?" Sasha gawped, as she aimed her camera lens to see what looked like a ninja draped in red and a mask-wearing wolf, carrying a magic wand, approach the dim-witted raiders.

Back down on the street level, the driver of the pick, a beaver was raging "I can't get this freaking thing to move, it's stuck on something!"

"Well just reverse and try again!" Another crook shouted, this one was a white male donkey.

"Are you listening? He said it was stuck." A frustrated leopard grunted, he was holding a crow bar, ready to bust open the ATM.

"Well now what do we do?" A mongoose holding a pistol asked in a jumpy fashion.

"If I were you I'd enjoy your last few moments of freedom." A theatrical voice boomed, the zombie mask wearing thieves all turned towards where the voice had come from. They were met with Scarlet in a fighting stance and Mage twirling his wand in his paw. "May I suggest a magic show?" he smirked.

"Who the hell are you guys supposed to be? Isn't it a little early for Halloween costumes." The Leopard sniggered, ready to use the crowbar against the heroes.

"Says the guys wearing zombie masks." Scarlet retorted "We'll give you one chance to surrender, put your weapons down and raise your paws in the air."

Three of the crooks laughed but the mongoose panicked and raised his gun to fire, luckily Scarlet and Mage read the attack, Mage used his wand to send a power surge into the street light above the mongoose, causing it to explode and startle the thief. During the flash of light Scarlet rushed at the mongoose, tore the gun from his paws before delivering a restrained kick to the chops, but was still enough to incapacitate him.

Then it all kicked off. The leopard let out a yell "You bastards!" before charging at Mage with the crowbar raised high, when she was a few feet away, Mage said smugly "Evanescet." And he vanished into thin air, the Leopard stood stunned at what he just saw, but before he could say anything, he was punched the gut by an invisible force, which was followed by an uppercut that knocked him out. Mage reappeared above the now unconscious feline and chuckled as he saw the hapless Beaver scramble out of the digger in a bid to escape. Mage reached into his jacket and produced a black playing card, which he threw at the head of the buck-toothed crook, the beaver swayed for a few seconds before crashing to the ground.

Scarlet was having fun running rings around the donkey, who kept on trying to hit her with his hard hooves. He had been trying to land a strike for over fifteen seconds and had still not succeeded "Stay still!" The frustrated Jackass vented.

He sent his hoof flying towards Scarlet's face, who stopped it with her paw before it could connect and replied "Ok." Then she threw the donkey over her back in a judo-like fashion, with a slam hard enough to knock him out. Scarlet looked around and said in a satisfied tone "That was an easy win."

"Well these guys were pretty dumb, it isn't like they were much of a challenge." Mage said trying to sound tough, tucking his wand back into his jacket. "Should we grab one of their phones and call the po-"

" **Scarlet, Mage, are you receiving?"** Marian's voice buzzed in the earpieces both heroes had.

"Loud and clear, Maid." Scarlet responded.

" **I just saw something on a hacked cctv camera, I think Jack might be in danger!"** Marian informed with haste.

"Whoa, what? Hannah's dad?" Mage asked back, equally as fast.

" **I just saw him and a horse get jumped by a mob and carried into a warehouse, you need to get down to the old port now, he's in warehouse D-23! Roar and Bullet are already on their way."** Marian commanded. The two teens raced back to the pick up truck unknowing of the young photographer that had captured their first heroic feat.

000

The first thing Jack felt when his senses switched back on was the stinging pain in his neck, he also felt dizzy and nauseous, his mind scrambled to remember what had transpired.

 _Me and Corona drove to the warehouse district, we found a van matching the description from the dispatch report and then…then I remember something sharp going into my neck._

Jack could feel that his hands were tied behind his back. He could hear dozens of voices mumbling and as he opened his blue eyes, a overwhelming sense of terror washed over, in front of him was a large bucket filled with water. "No…" He managed to say.

"You're finally awake." A young voice spoke.

Jack looked up to see at least a hundred mammals in the warehouse looking at him, all different species, different genders and ages. The only thing that they had in common was the black armband they all wore, with a design of a paw reaching out of water painted on. But just in front of the buckets were three mammals all dressed in grey cloaks, a similar emblem was on the arms of the cloaks, only this time the paw was skeletal and holding a dagger. Jack tried to soak in every detail of his environment and the three cloaked mammals; one was a male hippo with his head bowed, then there was a young male Honey Badger, also with his bowed. The one mammal that was looking Jack square in the eye was a female cheetah, who looked barely out of her teens. She was holding Jack's wallet and phone "Agent Jack Savage of the Major Crimes Bureau, so you're one of the mammals that's being trying to catch us." The Cheetah stated, seemingly unimpressed.

"Where's Corona!?" Jack demanded, more concerned with the detective's safety than getting answers.

"Right beside you." The Cheetah replied, nodding at the sleeping horse a few feet away, there was a bucket in front of him as well and his hooves were restrained by rope "We used a larger doze on him, so he may take longer to wake up."

"Who are you?" Jack asked sounding bitter, maintaining a pantomime of bravery despite being scared stiff.

"I'm Fuli and I'm the first." The cheetah answered, her voice eerily calm.

"First what?" Jack asked, he knew the longer he kept her talking the more time he could figure out a way to escape.

"The first of The Drowned." Fuli informed, raising her arms and declaring "we are all Drowned." The surrounding mammals just gazing back in silence.

"The Drowned? Is that what you call your little gang of serial killers?" Jack sassed.

"You think we are a gang?" Fuli asked back, puzzled by her captive's words "We are the liberators of Zootopia."

"You tie mammals up and murder them like a gang of psychopaths." Jack snapped, testing the rope around his wrists, but it was too tight to wriggle out of.

"You misunderstand, we are initiating them to our cause, testing to see if they are worthy of carrying out the work given to us by the wave." Fuli explained in a tone similar to how a teacher speaks to their pupils.

"What?" Jack asked completely baffled.

"The drowning is a test; if a mammal can survive submerged for two minutes they are accepted into our family." Fuli explained further "The Drowned will carry out what the wave started and soon all of Zootopia will be tested."

"Tested?" Jack uttered looking at the dozens of Mammals around him "You mean all these mammals?"

"Have they gone through the initiation? Yes, all of them have, see they've had their eyes open to the truth; that the wave was a calamity meant to test us." Fuli said with a gentle smile that seemed overly creepy within the context.

"You sound like some cult fanatic!" Jack barked, his eyes darting around looking for an exit.

"Your words do not wound me, Agent Savage. For once,your horse friend wakes up, you shall both be tested and if you survive, I will see you as my brother in our cause." Fuli said, putting a paw on Jack's cheeks, an action that made the buck's skin crawl.

Jack was about to hock up some spit and spew it in the cheetah's face, but the sound of smashing glass startled everyone. Scarlet came crashing through a window and proceeded to land a kick on the giraffe's skull, before landing just behind Jack. She quickly scooped up the flabbergasted bunny up, before jumping up to the rafters to keep him safe. "What in god's name are you?!" Jack shouted, not believing what was happening.

Scarlet set Jack down leaning him on a support beam "Stay here!" She instructed before jumping back down and standing before Fuli, who had not moved an inch since Scarlet's entrance, nor had any other members of the drowned despite one of their Giraffe's being bested.

"Now aren't you fascinating." Fuli adored, a wide smile on the spotted feline's face.

Scarlet glanced at the asleep Corona and the bucket while connecting the dots "You're behind the bucket murders." She gasped.

"We prefer to call them failed initiations." Fuli replied before looking Scarlet up and down and adding "What are you exactly?"

"I'm the Undying Scarlet." She responded, wondering how she could get Corona to safety, there was no way he'd fit on the rafters.

"The Undying Scarlet," Fuli repeated with glee "you seem like the kind of mammal the Wave tested, you should join us, your talents would serve the Drowned greatly."

"Sorry but I'm already with a team." Scarlet replied, getting into a fighting stance.

"What team?" Fuli questioned, backing away slightly.

"This one!" Scarlet hollered. Suddenly the wall of the warehouse was smashed apart; Roar, Bullet and Mage came bounding in.

"Skull group attack, everyone else retreat!" Fuli ordered as she watched Roar take on two Elephants easily, with amazement.

The room turned into chaos, as most animals dispersed, including Fuli and the unknown honey badger and hippo. Scarlet was about to give chase to Fuli, while an axe wielding ocelot appeared out of the crowd wanting to decapitate her. Scarlet grabbed the axe before it could hit her, yanked it out of the ocelot's paw, then headbutted the small cat.

Bullet's nerves were eased when she sensed her father above her, safe but completely confused, as he stared down at the unfolding battle from the rafters. Bullet easily shot all who came at her, as she took out enemy after enemy like a choregraphed dance. Roar had taken care of the elephants and was focused on grabbing Corona and getting him somewhere safe. He swatted away two drowned away who were trying to take Maximus Corona with them, he then picked the horse up with ease and placed him on top of a shipping container in the warehouse to keep him out of harm's way.

Kodi was using his black sleeper cards with a flair, only he could manage. When anyone got too close, he'd use the hand-to-hand skills that Marian taught him. Soon enough all of the Drowned had fled with twenty or so unconscious members on the floor, some of them groaning in pain and some snoring from tranquilizers. Mage let out a howl of victory as his three friends came over to him "We did it." Roar breathed, looking up at the flummoxed Jack Savage.

"Who are these guys?" Bullet asked, crouching down and sniffing one of the defeated cultists.

"I think that cheetah called them Drowned or something." Scarlet mused.

"I'm sure he can tell us more." Mage figured, pointing at Jack "Let's get him down and ask."

"Is that a good idea?" Bullet whispered "I mean maybe he'll rec-"

The sound of police sirens halted the conversation, the gang could see through the massive hole in the wall that multiple cop and MCB cars were approaching "Looks like Maid called the cavalry." Roar guessed.

"The last thing we need is getting questioned by the cops, let's get back to the bunker." Scarlet relayed, before dashing away with the other following her leaving a stunned Jack Savage asking himself mentally _Did I just get saved by Super Heroes?_

000

Nick and Alana's campaign had been going well, too well for Nick's tastes. He honestly expected someone else to throw their hat into the ring, but Bogo had been right; no one wanted to be mayor of a half destroyed city. It all seemed too easy, polls were saying that 70% of Zootopia citizens think that Nick would make a good mayor and that they would vote for him come polling day, he was running unopposed most of Nick's campaign team were saying that the election in a week's time was now just a formality but that still meant he had to campaign.

And right now that campaign had taken him to 'ZNN Sunrise' the breakfast news program that was hosted by long time news anchor; Fabine Growley. In the green room of show Nick looked at his watch '7.30am' and sighed "I should be at roll call right now." He was already missing his old job.

"We should both be at roll call but this is important too." Judy encouraged, she was dressed in her Chief uniform as she was heading straight to work after Nick and Alana's interview.

"Give me a gang of armed robbers over another TV interview any day." Nick continued to complain, he was dressed in grey suit with a white shirt and green tie.

"Just one more week on the campaign trail and then we can actually get some real work done." Alana tried to be positive, the young doe was wearing a navy dress with black blazer over it.

"So what's the plan for this interview? Should we focus on our new housing policies or on the recruitment drive for the emergency services?" Nick asked, sounding tired.

"I don't think we're going to get a chance, this is a Q&A sort of interview. There are going to be quite a few pundits, journalists and citizens in the audience asking us questions." Alana reminded, she was reading her notes on her phone.

"Well that's just great." Nick whined "Who wants a bet that someone is going to bring up about me being a fox who's in an inter marriage?" That was one of the few sour points of this campaign; certain very right wing news networks had made a point of demonizing Nick as a former con artist Fox who is also a inter, the same journalists also attacked Alana for her young age and also for being an inter.

"Don't let them see they get to you." Judy echoed Nick's advice from long ago, taking hold of his paw.

"Judy's right," Alana complied "if they bring up the issue of you being an inter, remind them that interspecies marriage has been legal in Zootopia for over fifteen years now."

KNOCK KNOCK! The green room's door opened and a black wooled ewe from Nick's campaign team holding a tablet stepped in "Three minutes to stage time you two." She informed.

"Thanks Karen." Alana nodded, putting her phone away.

"We haven't seen any pre written questions so we're going in blind on this interview, if they throw a curve ball try and keep your cool." Karen advised, she was the Governor's official strategist and campaign manager who knew the media inside and out.

"Cool's my whole persona." Nick joked, fixing his tie "Although Alana might have a problem."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alana asked in a critical manner.

"You've got a short fuse." Nick answered with a grin "But that's why I wanted you as my running mate in the first place."

Alana smiled at this "Well someone has to be the ass kicker out of the two of us."

"Oh one more thing," Karen cut in "I need to introduce to someone, Ben can you come on in?"

Into the green room walked a Dingo in his late twenties, his athletic frame was covered by a motorcycle jacket with the Australian flag stitched onto the left arm. He had hazel eyes that radiated a sense of cheekiness and a small smile rested on his muzzle "G'day." He opened with, his Australian accent clear as a bell.

"This is Ben Barton, he's going to be your personal bodyguard once your elected." Karen introduced the canine.

"What? No, I thought we talked about this I don't need a bodyguard, I'm a cop I can handle myself." Nick protested.

"We did talk about it but if you remember I said that it is state law that the mayor of Zootopia needs at least one guard, now we usually have a team of six but since you were so insistent about saving Tax dollars we've only hired Ben." Karen said with authority.

"Oh please I've been in shoot outs with mobsters I bet this guy hasn't got any experience." Nick groused.

"Give him a chance slick," Judy suggested before looking up at the dingo "why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

"Well I'm from Sydney, a little obvious with the accent." Ben laughed slightly "I've served in Military Police in the Australian army, I've been stationed all around the world and seen my fair share of scraps. I quit the army a couple of years back and went straight into security work, I've guarded foreign dignitaries, celebrities and CEOs with a 100% success rate, not to blow me own trumpet but I'm bloody good at my job."

Nick let out a groan before saying "Fine we'll let the Aussie stay."

A few minutes later Nick and Alana were sat in the studio across from Fabine Rowley waiting for the interview to begin. Nick glanced at the audience of about two hundred mammals and felt a little nervous but when his eyes fell upon Judy smiling at him his nerves eased a little.

"Welcome back to ZNN sunrise," Fabine greeted, staring straight into the camera "and we are now joined by mayoral candidate Nick Wilde and his running mate Alana Clearwater." She then turned to the two "Thank you for joining us this morning."

"Thanks for having us, Fabine." Nick replied with his signature charm.

"It's lovely to be here." Alana added.

"So today we're going to be having a Q&A session in lieu of a political debate seeing as there are no other candidates in this race." Fabine explained.

"Believe me I'd love a rival to debate with." Nick commented.

"And the first question is actually from myself," Fabine posed "in the current economic crisis facing the city since the wave what plans do you have to save tax dollars and improve the unemployment rate in Zootopia?"

Nick had expected a question like this and luckily for him he was prepared "Ok so here's a thing that I learnt when I started the campaign, the perks of being mayor. Apparently as Mayor I get a massive town house, a team of six bodyguards, a limo and a salary of $230,000 a year. The fact is the city cannot waste that sort of money on an elected official. So I'm going to give that townhouse to the homeless mammals in the city, you can easily fit ten families in there. I've reduced the bodyguards from six to one, we're selling the limo and donating that money to the wave towns and I'm reducing the mayor's salary from 230k down to 70k, the same pay I get now as a police captain." This triggered a round of applause from a large part of the audience, Nick smiled before adding "And as for the unemployment strategy well Alana came up with a great policy."

Alana took this as her cue to talk "I've convinced the state governor not to hire clean up crews or construction workers from outside the city, from now on the massive task of rebuilding this city will be in the hands of Zootopians themselves, this will create 10,000 new jobs over the next four years." This again caused a round of applause from the audience.

"Thank you for that answer." Fabine smiled, before glancing at her notes "Our next question is from The Washington post." Fabine then pointed to a pudgy male weasel in the front row

"Oscar Whisklow, Washington Post," The weasel introduced himself, his Dictaphone pointed at Nick and Alana "how do you think your past careers will help you be good politicians?"

"Well I've been a cop for nearly seventeen years, I've dealt with high pressure situations but this has also given me a in depth knowledge of the city I'll be leading." Nick answered simply.

"As a former head of architecture firm I'm used to leading a team of dedicated mammals who also delivered excellent service to our clients but during my time as head of the Sherwood relief centre I managed to help mammals in the their time of need, and if I can help the entire city the same way it would be an honour." Alana told truthfully, she did seem a natural in front of the camera.

"Great our next question is from…" Fabine began but grimaced slightly "the head of the Zootopia Conservative Association; Gloria Drake."

Nick and Alana shared a look that spoke 'Here we go' before aiming their gaze towards a Female Groundhog in an expensive looking suit who had stood up from her chair "Mr Wilde in the past you have been a vocal supporter of the late Trevor Moon, are you also a left wing fanatic who will lead Zootopia further down the path of depravity?"

This question was designed to trigger an angry response, to make Nick and Alana lash out. Nick noticed the anger in Alana's face and before she could explode he chuckled slightly and asked back "What is this path of depravity you speak of?"

"Destroying the sanctity of marriage with same sex and interspecies couples allowed to marry, teaching sexual education and equality classes at schools, allowing transgendered mammals to use any bathroom they want. All these things Trevor Moon did, I just want to know if you'll continue his twisted work?" Drake asked, the groundhog's judging tone was sickening to hear.

Nick let a smile grow on his muzzle before answering "I think you are mistaken, you see Mayor Moon's work was not sick, it was a step in the right direction. If I can be half the mammal that he was I would consider that a win. So to answer your question yes I support the LGBTQ community, my youngest daughter came out as Bisexual recently as a matter of fact, I support transgender rights and teaching young mammals about sex and sexuality is essential is creating a community of understanding and acceptance…instead of creating an army of narrow minded individuals."

The groundhog's face twisted with anger "How dare you!? I'm trying to keep Zootopia pure. A inter Fox like you could never understand!" Drake bombarded.

"Oh so you're a speciest too? It's good to see your hate is consistent." Alana sassed "And as for Nick being inter, let me remind you that I am also in inter relationship with a cougar. Being an Inter will not affect the way we run this city but the hate that you spew from your mouth will only ruin it."

Nick looked at his running mate with pride and complimented "Well said."

The groundhog marched out of the studio to the jeers of the audience and the victorious smirks on Nick and Alana's faces. "Sorry about that." Fabine apologised.

"Don't be, it'll be great for your ratings." Nick joked.

"Ok next question is a normal Zootopian citizen; Art Jackson from Savannah central." Fabine said, pointing to a Wildebeest dressed in a casual t shirt and shorts.

The Wildebeest stood up and spoke loudly "Yeah so this is a question for both of you; what do you think of the super hero incidents that happened in the city last night?"

Nick looked back with a dumbfounded expression "Super heroes?"

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about Art?" Alana asked back, equally puzzled as Nick.

"You haven't heard about it?" Fabine interjected "We've been running the story all morning, there is camera phone footage of a giant white lion and an arctic fox gunslinger calling themselves Roar and Bullet taking down a gang of razors robbing a liquor store."

"Wait, really?" Nick scoffed, not sure if he was being pranked.

"Yes there is also reports of a ninja clad in red and magical wolf stopping a ATM robbery in Cacti gardens last night." Fabine added.

Nick and Alana looked at each other, sharing a look of confusion before Nick asked "You're telling me Spitfire isn't the only hero in Zootopia anymore?"

000

Print media was pretty much dead in Zootopia, no one bought newspapers anymore with everyone now getting their news via the internet more primarily through their phones and the most popular news app in the United States was BarkFeed. Every major city had a BarkFeed office but it's main headquarters was in the Meadowlands district of Zootopia. And in this headquarters was the office of the eccentric owner of the company and also head editor of the news site; Mr Boehm, a red panda who spoke with such speed it was hard for his employees to keep up with. And right now the biggest news story wasn't the election or the wave relief effort it was the superheroes of Zootopia and Boehm wanted to make sure all his best reporters were working on the case.

The energetic red panda was stood in the main office and was relaying orders to his staff at high speed "Abdul I want the best version of that phone footage up on the app within the hour, Clara see if you can get an interview with the owners of the liquor store offer them five grand for the story if they say no then offer them ten, Stan try get some gossip out of the ZPD, Harleen go to Cacti gardens and see if you can get some info or even better some images of these ninja and wizard heroes!"

"I've got pictures of the ninja and the wizard." A timid voice spoke. All the staff fell silent as they looked around for the source of the voice but were surprised when a very young antelope stepped forward wearing a flowery dress with a SLR camera hanging around the neck "I even have their proper names." Sasha added.

"Hey who let this kid in here?" Boehm asked, dismissing the youngster.

"I let myself in," Sasha said, her voice still quiet, she hated large crowds "and I'm telling the truth I have got photos." She held up a half dozen glossy colour photos clearly showing Mage and Scarlet.

Boehm strolled over and snatched the photos out of Sasha's hands and looked at them "Well I be dammed. Did you take these?"

"Y-yeah." Sasha nodded, a little shy.

Boehm looked at Sasha and smirked "What are you, like 10? Isn't a little dangerous for a tyke like you?"

"I'm 13," Sasha reacted, sounding annoyed "and it wasn't dangerous, I was far enough away. So do you want to buy them or not?"

"Fine $50 for each of them." Boehm sniffed, dismissive of the youngster.

"But your standard price is $200 a photo, I checked." Sasha protested.

"Fine $100, I don't have to pay under sixteens a full wage." Boehm parried.

Sasha snatched her photos back and said in a disgruntled voice "Fine, I'm sure ZNN will give me a better price anyway." Before turning on her heel and heading for the office exit.

"Wait!" Boehm called after "Ok you called my bluff! I'll pay you $200 for each photo!"

Sasha turned back around and replied "Keep it at $100 but I want something else instead."

"Name it kid." Boehm said, desperate for those photos.

"I want to be on your books as a freelance photographer and I want you to write me a recommendation for the art school of my choice." Sasha bargained.

"You got yourself a deal kid." Boehm agreed with a grin extending his paw. "So who do I credit the photos to?"

"Ummmm…" Sasha sounded while shaking Boehm's paw, she needed a pseudonym to avoid her parents getting wind of what she was up to "call me Miss Ojos." It was the Spanish word for eyes, and that what she wanted to be; the eyes of Zootopia.

"Ok Miss Ojos, let's get you paid." Boehm grinned "And if you can get me more pictures of these heroes that recommendation is as good as yours."

"Don't worry I'll get you your photos." Sasha nodded, a plan already forming in her mind of how to get more shots of Zootopia's new heroes.

000

"Ok calm down Robyn." Olivia spoke into her phone as she walked down a street in the meadowlands.

" **How can I stay calm?! Hannah's dad was nearly killed last night!"** Robyn's voice came through, very loudly.

"And you and the rest of the team saved him and that detective, you guys did great." Olivia responded.

" **But it was a cult, a freaking cult of serial killers! How are we going to stop them?"** Robyn asked, sounding anxious.

"Look I know it was overwhelming for your first patrol but we'll work together on this plus we still haven't found Kiara yet and that's still our priority." Olivia calmed.

" **I know but these Drowned guys are nuts, we have to bring them down before they put someone else's head in a bucket."** Robyn said, calming slightly.

"Listen get the guys to come to the bunker after school and we'll hold a strategy meeting, I'm sure your grandparents are already looking into these Drowned freaks so don't worry, go to school, enjoy class and forget about the horde of mass murderers in the city." Olivia advised, being careful not to get stepped on by larger mammals.

" **Ok, I'll message the others, see you at the bunker, bye."** Robyn said before hanging up the phone.

Olivia put her phone back in her skirt pocket and was happy to see that she reached her destination, she was in front of the famous 'Le Ratatouille' restaurant, an eatery originally designed for rodents but due to amazing dishes of the head chef it had expanded to cater for mammals of all sizes. The popularity of the restaurant meant usually meant getting a table was a nightmare but Luna had clued Olivia into a little secret of the super rich, if you showed up in person at 8am while the maître d' was organising the restaurant for the morning deliveries and said the password 'Linguini' you could book a table for that night. Olivia walked though the unlocked rodent sized door to find a chubby brown rat at the podium writing in the reservation book. "Good morning." Olivia opened in a friendly manner.

"Ah good morning, my name is Emile, how can I help you?" The maître d' greeted in an equally friendly manner.

"Linguini." Olivia gave the password with a wink.

"I see," Emile smiled "may I ask who gave you this password?"

"Luna Wilde." Olivia answered truthfully.

"Oh you're a friend of Luna's, she's really good tipper." Emile said with a happy tone "So you need a table for tonight, how many diners will we be serving?"

"Six." Olivia stated "It's my friend Pua's birthday and he's always wanted a meal here."

"Well let's make his wish come true. I can fit you in at 8pm, what size are the other mammals so we can get you the right sized table?" Emile continued.

"Pua's a pig, Luna and her boyfriend are foxes and the two other guests are goats." Olivia told, the two goats were Pua's friends from work.

"Ok 8pm for Pua the birthday boy. All set, see you this evening." Emile grinned.

"Thanks." Olivia waved off before exiting the restaurant, as she went to call a cab she glanced back inside to see Emile chatting to someone and the skin under her brown fur instantly heated up. It was Blake, the rat that she had mistaken for a mugger, he was carrying a crate of wine which made Olivia realise that he worked there. "Oh hell." She whispered, realising she was still crushing on the handsome rat.

(AN/ No cliffihangers this week folks. What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Now I know I'm usually pretty regular with updating this fic every Sunday but next week I won't be able to due to a ongoing family issue so next week I have to go down to London so I'm afraid the adventures of team ceartias will have to wait until July 23rd. Next time on SOC; Skye interrogates one of the captured Drowned members, Team Ceartais try to figure out their next move, Olivia makes a fool of herself in front of Blake...again and the Drowned strike back.)


	15. Agendas

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Crewefox/Garouge back after a 2 week break, thanks so much for all your support during this difficult time, anyway I've got a brand spanking new chapter for all you lovely people, big thanks to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last update and another huge thanks to the SOC development team who helped me immensely on this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 14- Agendas**

When Skye had gotten the call from ZPD dispatch saying that Jack was in danger, she felt an icy grip pull at her heart. Despite her possessing a tough, no-nonsense attitude while at her work, she let out a pained cry, her mind already jumping to the conclusion that her husband was dead. She had ran down to the underground parking lot with a couple of MCB agents, who were in the process of getting into her car, when a message came over the radio that one of the agents held, that Jack was safe. Skye fell to her knees and whispered "Thank you god." Tears were falling from her eyes and for once, she didn't care she looked in front of her subordinates.

When Jack arrived back at Precinct 1, Skye tackled her lover with a hug, not letting go of the striped lapin for a good five minutes. When Skye had calmed down, Jack began to explain about his encounter with the Drowned and subsequent rescue by the mysterious group of superheroes. The Drowned members that had been rendered unconscious in the fight with the unknown heroes were brought to precinct 1's holding cells. There were fifteen in total and all of them decided to remain silent whilst they were being held in custody, Jack and Skye would have to dig deeper into their identities in the morning. The Savages finally left the precinct just after 3 in the morning, with the intention on not going back there until 3pm tomorrow. The two federal agents needed a break from work, even it was just for twelve hours. They had however, awoke at 7am to greet Hannah as she got ready for school and walked her to the end of the street, where the minibus headed for to the Zootopia School for the Blind would collect her. As soon as the minibus pulled away with Hannah safely on board, Jack started quietly sobbing when he realised that he could have never seen his precious daughter again, if things had gone differently with the Drowned last night. Skye held Jack close and guided him back to the family home, where they then curled up In bed together and didn't rise until the 2pm alarm tore them from their much needed slumber.

Jack and Skye remained as clingy as possible before arriving precinct 1 for their very short four hour shift, both mammals committing to finish at 7pm, no matter what transpired during this stint. The elevator to the second floor pinged open, where Jack and Skye saw that the mammalcide office, where the MCB had taken up residence, was abuzz with activity since the arrests last night. The two MCB agents were half way to their desks, when a voice called out "Skippy!". Jack barely had time to turn towards the voice before getting scooped up into a rib-crushing hug. Through the daze, Jack could make out that it was his best friend Nick hugging him.

"Hey, you ok?" Jack asked in a calmed voice, hugging the fox back.

"We heard what happened, you alright?" Nick asked, his voice full of concern.

"I'm fine, nothing that I couldn't handle." Jack brushed off, escaping the hug.

"You being restrained in a room with a hundred psychopaths, that's your idea of handling it?" Judy asked critically, the police chief appearing from behind Nick.

"I never said it was a perfect situation." Jack smirked, keeping his true feelings at bay.

"That 'situation' nearly gave me heart failure." Skye simmered, crossing her arms "You scared the hell out of me last night."

"Ok, so the whole thing went to hell, the point is; I'm alive." Jack skirted.

"So what's with all this with Superhero thing?" Nick asked, itching to know.

"Honestly it was surreal," Jack opened "one second I'm there, about have my head forced into a bucket of water and the next some ninja in red bursts through the window, grabs me then jumps up to the ceiling rafters and sits me down away from the Drowned."

"A ninja?" Judy scoffed "What with like throwing stars and a sword?"

"She didn't need one, this girl in red knocked out a giraffe with one kick." Jack told with conviction "Then before I know it the wall comes down and three more costumed freaks run in; a giant lion, a wolf with a magic wand and an arctic fox with high spec guns."

"Sounds like an Iron Ram movie." Judy commentated "So what species was the ninja?"

"No idea, her face was covered." Jack admitted. "But I think she's a small canine from the size of her. She called herself something weird; The Undying Scarlet."

"You think this Scarlet character and her friends are linked to The Drowned?" Nick proposed.

"I doubt it, Scarlet seemed shocked to see The Drowned, I'm betting she and her friends stumbled onto me and Corona being held captive." Jack theorised.

"Thank god they did." Skye enforced, gripping Jack's paw.

The message tone from Nick's phone bleeped ending the conversation abruptly, he took the phone out of his suit pocket, read the message, and groaned "Ugh, I've got to go, campaign stuff." Before looking apologetically at Judy.

"It's ok, go." Judy assured with a small smile "Only a little more work and you'll be mayor." She then raised herself on her tiptoes and kissed Nick on his black canine nose.

"Thanks Fluff." Nick smiled back, appreciating his love's support. He fixed his tie before heading for the elevator while saying "Good luck with the interrogation."

As Nick entered the elevator, Jack turned to Judy and queried "Interrogation?"

"One of the Drowned members has agreed to talk with the ZPD and MCB. He's the only one who's opted for an interview, everyone else is keeping schtum." Judy said as she cut to the chase "Guy's name is Calvin Wayne, 47, he's a Wallaby from Canal district, got priors for fraud and assault, got out of the state pen six months ago and ever since the wave, he's gone off the grid. Everyone assumed he was dead."

"And instead, he's been alive and listening to this absolute psycho." Jack threw in, sounding bitter.

"I'll lead the interview, if that's ok?" Skye asked Judy.

"Fine by me, I'll have one of my officers in there with you, just in case things get out of hand. You should know that this mammal has a history of violence." Judy complied.

Ten minutes later, Skye walked into one of the interrogation rooms, not far from the holding cells in the precinct. Standing by the door was one of Judy's cops, this one a female warthog, with a nametag saying 'Anders'. She had her arms crossed and was looking at the suspect sat the table with a steely gaze. Skye looked at the suspect and was a little puzzled by what she saw, according to the file this wallaby was known for splashing the cash, wearing the finest clothes and jewellery but the mammal before her looked like he got all his clothes from a dumpster. Calvin Wayne was wearing a smile as Skye approached the table and sat opposite him "Good afternoon." Calvin greeted warmly. Skye narrowed her eyes as she peered at him. This wallaby was part of the group that had murdered innocent mammals and yet he was talking in such a relaxed manner.

"Mr. Wayne I am regional director Skye Savage of the MCB and I'll be interviewing you today." Skye said, getting down to business "I've been informed that you don't want a lawyer present, are you sure about this?"

"Quite sure," Calvin responded "I have accepted my fate."

Skye raised an eyebrow at the odd reply but decided to get on with the interrogation. Skye leaned over to the digital recording device beside the table and pressed record before stating clearly "This is MCB Regional Director Savage conducting the interview with suspect Calvin Wayne on the 9th May 2032 at 3.23pm, for the sake of the recording Officer Anders of the ZPD is also present. Calvin has rejected his right to an attorney…So shall we begin?"

"Yes we shall." Calvin replied.

"Ok let's get straight to it; did you commit or witness any of the 'Bucket' murders?" Skye asked, looking Calvin square in the eye.

"If by murders, you mean failed initiations, then yes." Calvin answered, in a very peaceful voice.

"Let me rephrase the questions. Did you witness or did you actually drown any mammals?" Skye pressed, wanting a clear answer.

"I've witnessed most of the initiations and it's been an honour to help assist in three of them." Calvin revealed. "Unfortunately two initiates failed the test."

"So you admit it?" Skye queried, a little taken aback that a killer would admit his crime so easily.

"Of course, we were doing what was right." Calvin clarified.

"Why did you do it?" Skye probed.

"To see if they were worthy enough of joining the Drowned." Calvin spoke "To carry out the good work that the wave started."

"The wave was a natural disaster that killed three million mammals, how is that good work?" Skye asked in a critical voice, already having a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

"The wave cleansed Zootopia of the weak and the greedy leaving the strong to inherit it's burden of liberating Zootopia from it's shackles of comfort…Mammals have grown weak." Calvin told in the manner of a school teacher educating a young child.

"What do you mean weak?" Skye pursued, looking at the suspect with distain.

"All mammals are obsessed with now is the dream that's been drilled into our minds since birth; to be happy, we must own a big house, get married, have kids, buy crap we don't need and then die." Calvin told with conviction "But only some mammals obtain this dream. The rest are working sixty hours a week for minimum wage, living on one pay check to the next, wondering if they'll have enough money to buy food for their kids, while the entitled rich live the high life. Then there are students conned into going into college, studying for three years, gaining 20-30 years worth of student debt, then graduating to find that there are no jobs for them. And of course, we have the homeless, the forgotten souls of this city, those who scrounge offf the street and living off the forgotten scraps of the entitled. We had allowed the scum of the earth to walk free from the broken justice system, while other inmates jailed for minor offences, have to stay inside and rot. We've let crime lords, police brutality, street gangs and sex offenders become an everyday thing, like we're just supposed to accept it as normal."

"Is there a point to your rambling?" Skye sniped, growing impatient.

"Forgive me, I got distracted." Calvin replied politely "The point is The Wave changed everything. The Wave did not discriminate; it targeted both the rich and poor, prey and predator, young and old. It didn't care about politics, religion, social status, sexuality or gender. It just came and washed away the weak of this city leaving only the fittest and strongest; the worthy citizens of Zootopia."

"And who came up with this rhetoric? Fuli? That's the name of your leader, right?" Skye pressured.

"Fuli was the first of us to see the truth, I was there when she first came to this realisation, at first I reluctant to believe her but she opened my eyes." Calvin praised his leader.

"Isn't she a little young to be a cult leader? Reports say she's in her late teens to early twenties, what's her deal?" Skye dug.

"It doesn't matter who she was, when the wave hit, she was reborn and her purpose was clear; to cleanse all of Zootopia; not just Tundra Town, Little Rodentia and Sahara Square. You see, all the other districts that escaped the full wrath of the Wave need to be tested and that, my friend, is where the drowned come in." Calvin explained, still keeping his voice creepily cheery.

"And how do you plan to do this? You can't put every mammal's head in a bucket." Skye called out.

"That wasn't part of our cleansing, that was recruitment." Calvin corrected.

"Recruitment? Even so, a hundred or so cultists are no match for law enforcement." Skye scoffed.

Calvin let out a small laugh before tittering "Do you really believe that the Drowned in the warehouse district last night were our complete congregation? No, there a lot more of us than you think; we're the postal workers, the office workers, the sanitation guys, the homeless, nurses, firefighters, IT guys, teachers…even federal agents and ZPD officers."

That last part made Skye tense up and caused her to say "Likely story, you're a pack of murders, plain and simple."

"Really? Who do you think made sure Detective Corona got the call from dispatch? We did. We know Corona and your husband got along so naturally he'd ask him to tag along." Calvin grinned "And we also knew exactly where they were because we tracked Corona's car, you see we wanted more allies in the MCB and ZPD, and those two were big catches."

Skye suppressed her instinct to bare her fangs and snapped "Bullshit! You couldn't have possibly known Jack was in precinct 1 so late at night!"

"But you and your husband haven't been home before midnight for the last couple of weeks…your home at 223 Madison Drive." Calvin added with a smirk.

"…What?" Skye uttered, feeling her stomach turn with fear.

"Yes you arrive home late, park your car in the driveway, unlock the three locks you have on the door…" Calvin gave a twisted grin.

"Shut up…" Skye interrupted, her claws digging into the table.

"Jack pours you both a glass of bourbon, then you both cuddle up in front of the TV to unwind for a bit, I would have never guessed you two were reality TV fans." Calvin continued.

"Stop…" Skye warned, growing angrier by the second.

"It's such a shame that you don't spend as much time with your daughter, Hannah is her name, right?" Calvin asked rhetorically, sounding whimsical.

"Don't you say her name!" Skye barked, finally baring her teeth at sound of Hannah's name coming from the psychopath's mouth.

"She gets home hours before you and Jack, pottering around with her little cane, listening to the radio. I have to say for a blind girl, she is a really good dancer." Calvin carried on wounding Skye with his words.

Skye wanted to leap across the table, clasp her paws around the wallaby's neck and choke the life out of him but she knew she couldn't, she needed to do this by the book. She took a deep breath, steadied her nerves and spoke aloud for the digital recording to hear "Due to the suspect having knowledge of family I am forced to terminate this interview at 3.29pm, officer Anders please escort Calvin back to his cell."

Anders the warthog, who also seemed repulsed by Calvin stepped towards the suspect "Come on." She spoke, going to grab him by the scruff of his shirt.

Then in a flash, Calvin gut punched Anders before reaching for her holstered gun, the Wallaby barely had time to get it out of the holster before Skye produced her own pistol and shot Calvin in the chest, knocking him back against the wall. "Anders, you ok?" Skye asked quickly.

"I'm f-fine." Anders choked "The bastard caught me off guard."

Skye still had her gun trained on Calvin, who despite bleeding profusely, was still smiling "A-and with that s-shot…the real work begins." He panted before closing his eyes for the last time.

000

For the first fifteen years of his life Robin Loxley had been raised in a very posh environment where etiquette and protocol were the cornerstones of social interactions. Even now, he went on to become a vigilante/outlaw. These protocols of British aristocracy still remained, his favourite custom of course was serving tea, even if it was for a pack of heroes decades younger than him. He parked the tea trolley next to large table in the observation deck of the Bunker where Team Ceartais had assembled and happily asked "Anyone for tea?"

"Please." Kodi answered, he had grown quite fond of the beverage.

"Same here." Kion added.

"With milk and one sugar please." Hannah chimed in.

"A wee cup for me." Olivia answered, the mouse was sat in the middle of the table in her small desk chair.

"You know how I like mine." Marian smiled at her husband of nearly fifty years.

"Strong for me." Robyn grinned before reaching for the Jaffa cakes piled on a plate on the tea trolley (To those who do not know what a Jaffa cake is, it is a very popular orange and dark chocolate biscuit or 'Cookie' that is served with tea in Britain.)

Robin senior saw his namesake reaching for the treats and slapped her hand before she could touch the chocolatey orange confections "Ah, manners!" he scolded.

"What'd I do?" Robyn asked back, pulling her paw back.

Robin senior let out a sigh before explaining in a tongue in cheek manner "You have Loxley blood in you child, and so you shall have the manners of a Loxley; One; you must never take a biscuit before your guests have taken one and more importantly Two; you didn't let your lady love take a treat before you, tsk tsk. An aristocrat always puts the needs of their love before their own."

"But I'm not an aristocrat, I'm the daughter of two American cops." Robyn pointed out.

"Shows what you know, if things had turned out differently you'd be Lady Loxley-Wilde of Nottingham." Robin senior informed, while pouring the tea.

"Wait I'm technically an aristocrat?" Robyn asked, trying to figure the new info out.

"Oooh I bagged me a Lady." Hannah joked, nuzzling next to Robyn.

"Ok lovebirds, pack it in, we got a meeting to start." Marian caught everyone's attention "Olivia, will you start us off?"

"Gladly," The Scottish mouse agreed "The way I see it, Team Ceartais had two objectives one; Find Kiara Priderock and Two; Stop the Drowned."

"Easier said than done, you've been searching for Kiara for weeks, what else can you do?" Kion asked back, sounding pessimistic.

"Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places, we've been focusing too much on looking for her in hospitals and homeless shelters, maybe we should aim our sights a little higher. We should be looking at Phelps Arms." Olivia proposed.

"The guys who put the elixir system in my spine?" Kion asked, a little confused.

"Yes, from Marian's surveillance of them we can tell they are still active in the city and both actively looking for both you and Kiara." Olivia revealed "Now it's pretty obvious why they want you, but why would they want Kiara?"

"Maybe be she managed to steal something the night of the wave?" Hannah guessed.

"Bingo." Olivia smiled "They must've figured out she's alive as well and they're actively searching for her."

"So if we track Phelps arms' mercs we'll find Kiara?" Kodi assumed.

"That's the plan, they wouldn't put so much effort into finding her if they didn't know she was alive." Olivia theorised.

"Well it's a start." Kion sigh, still not seeming confident.

"Don't worry Kion, we'll find her." Hannah comforted, putting her paw on the Kion's arm.

"But what do we do about the Drowned?" Kodi asked "We can't let these killers roam the streets."

"It's only a matter of time before someone else is killed." Robyn lamented.

"The majority of the Drowned seem like drones who blindly follow a leader, in this case they follow this Fuli character." Marian figured "We catch Fuli and hand her over to the police and that's half the battle won."

"But soldiers without a leader can be erratic and trigger happy, if we can take down a large number of their ranks at the same time, it would be safer for the city." Robin sr. strategized.

All of a sudden Hannah's phone began to ring, she got it out of her pocket and pressed the button designed for blind users, **"Mom Calling."** The phone's automated voice informed "Sorry guys, I'll tell her I'm busy." Hannah apologized as she answered the phone "Hey Mom."

" **Hannah where are you!?"** Skye's asked with a frightened voice.

"Uh hanging out with Robyn and the guys." Hannah danced around the truth "What's wrong?"

" **Listen to me, whatever you do don't go home, don't go within a mile of the house!"** Skye instructed in a stressed tone.

"Mom what's going on?" Hannah questioned, growing more concerned.

Skye let out a heavy sigh before revealing " **Some very dangerous people have made a threat against us, so until it's sorted out I want you to stay at Robyn's, I've already cleared it up with Judy."**

"Wait, what?!" Hannah gasped "What do you mean a threat?"

" **I can't go into the details but me and your Dad are working on a case and the mammals we're hunting are targeting us."** Skye answered in an anxious voice.

"Are you and Dad Ok?" Hannah asked, figuring that the Drowned must be behind this.

 **"We're fine just please go home with Robyn and I'll talk to you later, listen I have to go, I love you."** Skye said with haste before ending the call abruptly.

Hannah was speechless for a moment, with everyone around her wondering what in the word the conversation had been about, Robyn was the first to speak "Babe?"

"It's the Drowned, they've made a threat against me and my parents." Hannah confided, a little overwhelmed.

"What!?" Olivia gawped.

"We have to bring Fuli down as soon as we can." Hannah said in a determined voice, promising herself that she wouldn't let her parents come to any harm.

000

Olivia had ordered Robyn and Hannah to take the night off from hero work, knowing that they would be being checked on every few minutes by Judy and Nick, so there was no point of them trying to sneak out. It was going to be Kodi and Kion flying solo tonight. Olivia would've gotten into her mech and offered to help but she had already made plans; attending Pua's birthday dinner at Gusteau's. However, as the cab pulled up to the restaurant, her breaths started to become quicker. She was dreading the thought of bumping into Blake, she was hoping beyond belief that it was his night off. Olivia paid the driver and stepped out of the cab and into the restaurant to find the place a lot busier than in morning. The murmur of conversation and cutlery was complemented by the warm atmosphere and delicious smells coming from the kitchen was almost enough to ease Olivia's worries. "Olivia!" Luna's voice called out.

Olivia looked for the source of her friend's voice and found it at a table in the centre of the room, she was sitting with Aleks, Pua and also Tony and Mark the goat, from Pua's RPG club at work. "Hey." Olivia beamed, rushing over to the table and clambering onto the paw that Luna lowered for her, the vixen lifted her friend onto the table where another smaller mouse size table and chair waiting for her "Hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long." She said as she sat down.

"Don't fret, we just got here." Pua assured "I still can't believe you managed to snag us a table here, the waiting list is crazy."

"You can thank Luna for that." Olivia nodded up at her friend, the surgeon was dressed in a expensive looking salmon pink dress.

"What can I say? I know all the tricks of the rich and famous." Luna bragged.

"Careful Ukochana, you may get a big head." Aleks kidded, the silver fox was wearing a black shirt with a red tie.

"So birthday boy, shall we get some drinks?" Tony the goat asked, eyeing the bar.

"Yeah I hear the cocktails here are legendary." Mark added "Plus it's your birthday we need get drunk as hell."

"Why not," Pua ordered "let's get buzzed."

Two hours and three courses later, the group of friends were stuffed from having the most exquisite food and drunk from the most delectable drinks. Olivia who was on her fifth cocktail looked up to Luna and Aleks making goo goo eyes at each other and sniggered with a tipsy voice "You two act like teenagers."

"I suppose we do." Aleks admitted, well on his way to being drunk from all the wine he had consumed.

"Ain't no shame in it." Luna replied, sounding inebriated herself.

"Well Miss Dawson that meal was amazing, thank you for treating us." Pua thanked politely.

"You're very welcome Pua, but the night ain't finished yet. Let me settle the bill and we'll head to the clubs." Olivia grinned.

"Sounds like a plan!" Tony chimed in.

"Now we can really party." Mark added.

Olivia raised her paw to signal a waiter, this one a broad shouldered black bear, he walked over with a tablet and politely asked "Would Madame care for another drink or would she like the bill?"

"The bill please," Olivia answered "Although please compliment your bartender for these awesome cocktails."

"Ah yes we have two bar tenders here who are very popular, one for larger mammals and the other for rodents," The bear explained before pointing at a very small bar next to the regular sized one "there's the gentlemammal who's been making your drinks."

Olivia's eyes went wide and her fur stood on end as she looked at the familiar figure who was mixing a fresh drink for another customer "Oh bollocks." She mumbled.

"Madame?" The Bear waiter reacted, confused by Olivia's words.

"Uh, can I have the bill?" Olivia asked, sounding slightly jittery.

"Of course." The Bear complied, leaving the tablet on the table with the bill. "I'll give you a few minutes to settle up."

Olivia was scrambling for her wallet, wanting to pay and leave a tip as fast as possible before Blake clocked onto her, something that didn't go unnoticed by her friends "Olivia, are you alright?" Aleks enquired, fixing his glasses.

"Yeah, you look like you just saw a ghost." Pua noted.

"It's nothing." Olivia fibbed, retrieving her debit card.

A coy smile emerged on Luna's muzzle as she eyed the mammal at the rodent sized bar "Hmm, a very handsome rat with a blueish tint to his fur, could that be the mysterious Blake?" she asked with a mischief in her voice.

"That's Blake?" Aleks joined in, grinning himself.

"Who's Blake?" Pua asked, hungry for gossip.

"Olivia's crush." Luna smirked.

"I don't have crushes, I don't have time for them." Olivia denied, placing her card on the tablet before adding a generous $300 tip on top of the meal.

"Awwww Miss Dawson." Pua cooed "I knew you had a romantic side."

"I most certainly do not." Olivia replied with a hushed growl "He's just a guy who didn't call me back, end of story."

"Someone sounds salty." Aleks smiled "Why don't you teach him a lesson?"

"Huh?" Olivia sounded.

"Yeah pay for the bill," Luna butted in "then go over there and tell him that he missed his chance."

"You think? I dunno' that seems a tad bitchy, even for me." Olivia doubted herself, putting her fingerprint on the tablet to confirm the payment.

"So? You'll never see the guy again," Pua encouraged "go on get your own back on him. Then we can all leave and go to a club."

Olivia contemplated the suggestion for a moment, she then downed the remainder of her drink, looked over towards Blake, then said "Luna, be a love and lower me down will you?"

"But of course." Luna smiled, offering her open paw for her tiny friend to ride on, the mouse climbed on and Luna lowered her to ground level, Olivia stepped off and began marching towards Blake at the bar.

Olivia made her way to the bar completely unnoticed by Blake, the mouse propped herself up on a bar stool and alerted "Hey barkeep!"

Blake turned around and a confounded look replaced his content expression. "You?" He replied, seeming surprised to see her again. He was dressed in a fine white shirt with black braces that matched his trousers, his bulging muscles were barely covered by his clothes.

"Um…." Olivia sounded, her mouth no longer listening to her brain _Say you missed your chance! Come on Olivia, you gobshite! Stop standing there like a prized fool! Damn it why does he have to look so hot? Stupid sexy rat!_

"Didn't expect to see you again." Blake smiled, the first actual smile that Olivia had seen him do, it suited him.

"Uh yeah, just came out for my friend's birthday." Olivia responded, her courage to insult the handsome rat now completely gone.

"Who are your friends?" Blake asked in a friendly manner.

"There right over…" Olivia began, turning to point at the table where her friends were only to find it empty "…oh those bastards."

"Your friends' ditched you?" Blake chuckled.

"It would appear that way." Olivia griped "I'm going to kill Luna next time I see her."

"Why did they run?" Blake asked, sounding intrigued.

"Probably in attempt to keep me talking to you." Olivia guessed, sounding pissed off.

"And why would they want that?" Blake probed.

Olivia let out a defeated sigh "Listen Blake, I'm sorry, this is dumb, I'm going to go to see if I can catch up with my friends."

"Or you could stay here and try another of my cocktails." Blake offered an alternative.

 _Say no and walk away, say no and walk away_ Olivia told herself mentally and yet her mouth spoke "Ok, maybe just the one."

"You ever had a Soixante Quinze? It's a favourite of my family." Blake proposed grabbing a bottle of champagne.

"Never had it but hit me with one." Olivia answered, trying her best not to stare at Blake like some lovesick schoolgirl.

"So Liv, how was your meal?" Blake made friendly chit chat whilst he began concocting the Parisian cocktail.

Olivia felt a thump in her gut, caused by guilt, now remembering that she had given Blake a fake name, but she didn't want to keep feeling guilty so she said "It's Olivia, Olivia Dawson."

"Huh? I thought you said your last name was Baker?" Blake queried, continuing to mix the cocktail.

"Yeah, I did say that." Olivia confessed "It's sort of a defence mechanism I have when I meet a cute guy."

Blake was quiet for a few seconds before responding with "I don't know what's more surprising, the fact that you lied about your name or that you think I'm cute."

Olivia's began to blush under her fur as she stammered "I-uh-I mean…shit, why'd I say that!?"

Blake just laughed at how flustered the mouse was and kindly spoke "Why don't you drink this, and then tell me about this defence mechanism of yours?"

Another hour passed and Olivia and Blake were enthralled in conversation, so much so that all the diners in the restaurant had left as well as the majority of the staff, both rodents were now drinking and conversing at the bar. "So you're an engineer who owns her own company? You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Blake commented, sipping on a 20 year old scotch.

"What can I say? I'm a mouse of many talents." Olivia feigned a brag, she was a lot more drunk now "It was my fathers who encouraged me to pursue science, they always believed in me."

"What do your Dads do?" Blake asked, noticing this was the first time the reserved mouse had mentioned her family.

"They both work for the ZPD, one's a CSI and the other is a mortician." Olivia revealed, swaying slightly from the booze "They're both my heroes."

"Sounds like you're a real Daddies' girl." Blake smiled, liking this softer side of the engineer.

"Guilty as charged," Olivia slurred "how about you? Any family?"

"Yeah well we're standing in my family's restaurant." Blake stated, raising his arms to motion to their surroundings.

"Huh?" Olivia reacted.

"I told you my surname was Gusteau, this is my family's reasturant, my uncle Remy is the head chef and my uncle Emile is the Maître D." Blake cleared up.

"Holy crap, I never connected the dots." Olivia realised.

"Blake." A voice called out, both Blake and Olivia turned to see a small rat with the same blueish tinted fur that Blake possessed standing in the rodent size doorway behind the bar "I'm heading home, can you lock up?"

"No problem Remy." Blake replied.

Remy glanced at Olivia before saying "Bonne soirée mademoiselle." He then gave Blake a knowing wink before leaving the two alone.

"He seems nice." Olivia commented, slurring her words.

"Yeah the only time I see him get angry is when he messes up a recipe." Blake said, taking another swig of his scotch.

"Hey can I ask you something?" Olivia spoke, sounding a little vulnerable.

"Sure." Blake allowed.

"Why did you never call me?" Olivia asked the question that had been eating at her for weeks.

Blake avoided Olivia's eyes and replied "It's complicated."

"I mean, I thought after we got breakfast, we had some kind of a connection, or was that just me?" Olivia questioned, the alcohol in her system removing all nerves.

"No there was a connection but…" Blake began but stopped himself, nervously stroking the scar on his face.

"But what?" Olivia pressed, she needed to know.

"I wanted to call you but I couldn't get over that speciest crap you pulled." Blake stated.

"Wait? That's why? But I apologised for that!" Olivia protested, sounding irked.

"You may have said sorry, but that doesn't change the fact that it happened." Blake parried, locking eyes with Olivia once more.

"So I messed up, I'm guilty. I know what I did was wrong but you didn't want to call me cos' you hold a grudge?" Olivia slurred in an agitated tone.

"Oh don't act all innocent, I bet you're still frightened of me." Blake countered, his voice becoming angry.

"Yeah right, you're about as scary as a wet fart!" Olivia snapped "You're just too chicken to try and score with someone as hot as me."

"Dream on, as if I'd hook up with a little narcissist like you." Blake defied.

"I don't even know why I gave my number to a dumbass like you." Olivia argued.

"Speciest!" Blake yelled, leaning in

"Arsehole!" Olivia responded with venom, also leaning in.

"Ball breaker!" Blake returned.

"Cry baby!" Olivia slung back.

"Daddies' girl!" Blake spat, his face inches away from Olivia's.

"Chicken shit!" Oliva shouted in Blake's face. Then, as is something possessed the two they viciously locked lips and began passionately kissing each other, Blake lifted Olivia from her bar stool and sat her on his side of the bar while still snogging, Olivia's paws grabbed Blake's shirt and tore it open, popping buttons off everywhere. Blake pulled back from the kiss and began nibbling on Olivia's neck seductively. The mouse let out a gasp as Blake's teeth teased her neck and sent an exhilarated sensation down her spine, she slid Blake's braces down then reached down to his trousers and unbuttoned them letting them fall.

Blake stopped delivering tiny love bites and asked with a pant "Are you sure you want this?"

Olivia grabbed Blake's paw and pressed against her chest so that he could feel her racing heart "What do you think?" Olivia asked rhetorically before kissing him once again leading them both into a night that neither of them would ever forget.

000

The next day came and all the news stations were talking about one thing; The Drowned, their logo was plastered all over media outlets. Someone within the ZPD leaked the events surrounding Calvin Wayne's demise and the nasty fact that as soon as the other Drowned suspects heard the gunshot ring out through the station, they began to chew out their own tongues to prevent them from talking, Calvin had planned on being shot and killed all along.

What was more disturbing was that Calvin's smart phone had been removed from the evidence locker and had been placed on Judy's desk, confirming that there were Drowned cultists within the ZPD. On the phone, there were a few videos showing the few dozen buckets murder victims, the ocean and armed Drowned Cultists. All this info had been leaked to the media, in hopes of sowing fear within the populace and distrust within the law enforcement agencies, and it had worked swimmingly.

Sasha Jones wasn't interested in taking pictures of the Drowned, she wanted photos of the new heroes and she was determined to obtain them at any cost, even if it meant coming up with a really idiotic plan. It was just after 11pm and Sasha had snuck out of her family's mansion, before walking about half a mile to a deserted area of the meadowlands. She walked into a empty construction site and found a stack of lumber that looked relatively light. She pulled five or so planks and covered her bottom half with it. Her plan was simple but dumb; pretend that she was trapped, shout for help and the heroes would come to her aid. Sasha had been laying under the not so heavy lumber for about half an hour while yelling help over and over again, her throat was getting sore from the repetitive shouting. "This was so stupid." Sasha criticised herself, getting up from the under the wood and calling it quits.

"Are you ok?" A female voice asked out of nowhere

"AH!" Sasha yelped, jumping back. Her eyes darting towards the source of the voice, it was a female serval in her late thirties dressed casually but what scared Sasha was the armband she was wearing displaying the symbol of the Drowned. "Um, I'm ok, I need to go home." Sasha mumbled, turning to run but found a giraffe and buffalo blocking her path, each of them with the Drowned armband on.

"Someone as young as you shouldn't be out this late, it's not safe." The Serval stated stepping closer.

Sasha let her instincts take over and tried to bolt past the Giraffe and Buffalo but the Buffalo read Sasha's movements and grabbed her before she could escape "Let me go! HELLLLLP!" Sasha screamed.

"Hush now, you will be tested, just like we were." The Serval said in an eerie tone.

"Help! Someone help!" Sasha hollered, trying to break free of the buffalo's vice like grip.

The next thing Sasha knew, she was dropped when a massive force struck the buffalo, sending him into a wall. A dazed Sasha looked up to see a figure, covered head to toe in rags, with its face wrapped up like a Mummy. Her saviour was twelve feet talk and had razor shaps claws emerging from the rags, it was the Monster of the Meadowlands. The Monster looked at Sasha and bellowed "RUN!" before charging at the Giraffe. Sasha sub consciously snapped as many photos as she could as she ran out of the construction yard, hearing the blood curdling screams of the cultists as they were literally tore limb from limb.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The Monster had reappeared! Will Sasha escape?! Will The Drowned target the Savages? Who is the spy in the ZPD? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Sasha runs into Scarlet and Spitfire, the team introduces themselves to the public, the Drowned amp up their twisted schemes and an old enemy comes home to Zootopia.)


	16. Hearts and Minds

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. Sorry I'm a day late, had a very busy weekend which included going to Manchester Comic con. As always thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter, i really appreciate it. A massive thank you to the SOC development team especially Alex.B who wrote a excerpt of this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 15- Hearts and Minds.**

Spitfire was not in the right frame of mind to be fighting crime at the moment, in fact she was merely watching on as Scarlet restrained three criminals with cable ties and during the proceeding fight all she had done was fire a single tranq dart at a brawler. Scarlet and Robyn were patrolling the Meadowlands when they heard smashing glass and shouts of anger coming from a few streets away, they arrived to find a group of right wing thugs smashing up a gay bar and attacking the innocent patrons but all the way through the fight Spitfire couldn't concentrate on what was going on, her mind was on her time with Blake nearly 24 hours before…

 **The Previous Night at Gusteaus…**

Olivia was exhausted, she had collapsed on top of Blake's chest panting heavily while he was trying to catch his breath as well. Both of them were naked and on the floor behind the bar at Gusteaus, neither of them spoke for a minute after the climax, they were both coming down from the electrifying sensations that had coursed through their bodies and they could feel one another's exhilarated heart beats thumping. Olivia was trying to gather her thoughts when she felt Blake's arm wrap around her and gently held her close before delivering a kiss atop of her head; usually Olivia would dismiss such signs of affection from a sexual partner but for some reason this felt nice, so much so she nuzzled into his chest fur in response. "Comfy?" Blake asked, his breath starting to come back.

"Move and I'll kill you." Olivia replied playfully.

Blake out a small laugh before smiling "So this is not how I expected this evening to go."

"Same here." Oliva responded still sounding drunk "…I am sorry for shouting at you."

"Don't be, if we didn't start that shouting match this wouldn't have happened." Blake eased her worries.

"…So what is 'This'?" Olivia asked with a slur, seeming uncharacteristically timid.

Blake read between the lines and queried back "What do you want 'This' to be?"

Olivia fought past her insecurity and answered truthfully "I want to see you again, and not just for sex, I want to date you."

Blake's smile grew at this answer before saying "I want that too."

"So are we like official?" Olivia asked, still sounding shy.

"Yeah," Blake chuckled "you act like you've never had a boyfriend before."

Olivia avoided Blake's eyeline and confessed "That's because I haven't had a boyfriend before."

"Huh?" Blake sounded, signalling he wanted to know more.

"Look all the other guys I've been with have just been casual, nothing serious. You're the first bloke I've had a genuine crush on." Olivia explained, rather bashfully.

Olivia half expected Blake to laugh or say something critical instead he just hugged a little tighter and said "I guess I'll have to be the best first boyfriend ever." This simple response made Olivia's heart swell, she knew she had fallen hard and her emotions were getting the better of her, but for the first time in her life she didn't care.

 **Now…**

"Ok that's the cops called, where should we head next?" Scarlet asked, tossing one of homophobic thug's phones away.

"Huh?" Spitfire lazily responded, sounding odd with the voice changer. She hadn't even noticed the amazed patrons of the besieged gay bar had come outside and started taking photos on their phones.

"You ok? You've been a little spacy all night?" Scarlet probed, wondering what was up the engineer.

"It's nothing, just personal stuff." Spitfire avoided before looking at the bar goers and asking "Does anyone require medical attention?"

"We've already called an ambulance, it's fine." A male Stoat replied, seeming star struck as he videoed the two superheroes.

"Hey…Spitfire, who's… your…. friend?" A curious male Sloth asked, very slowly, as he pointed at Scarlet.

"This is 'The Undying Scarlet', one of my team mates." Spitfire revealed.

"Uh, Hi." Scarlet let out a little wave, unsure of how to act with normal mammals when she was in her super hero guise.

The Sloth looked like he was about to ask another question but suddenly a holler of "Help!" could be heard coming from a few streets away grabbing both Scarlet and Spitfire's attention. Spitfire used her jets to raise into the air while Scarlet used her used her increased athletic capability to jump to a roof top across the street. "Help! Please!" Another cry came, from the south. Scarlet and Spitfire followed the distressed voice until they landed in the middle of street to find a terrified teenage antelope racing towards them.

"Sasha!?" Scarlet quietly gasped, running to meet the girl half way with Spitfire following.

"Oh thank god!" Sasha wailed, ceasing her sprint and fell to her knees.

"Miss, what's wrong?" Spitfire asked, sounding way too formal.

"The..D-Drowned tried to grab me." Sasha explained, breathing so hard she was close to hyperventilating.

"The Drowned!? Did they hurt you?" Scarlet asked sounding protective, crouching down and taking hold of Sasha's hooves.

"The Monster…it killed them." Sasha uttered, her eyes wide with shock "It tore them apart."

Scarlet look up at Spitfire with a puzzled look who asked Sasha "Where did this happen?"

"The construction site." Sasha answered, her trembling hoof pointing behind her.

Spitfire looked at Scarlet "Stay with her, I'll check it out."

"Right." Scarlet nodded, having no intention of leaving the traumatised Sasha alone. As Spitfire flew into the sky, Scarlet looked at the petrified thirteen year old and soothed "It's going to be ok Sasha."

Sasha blinked at the masked hero and mumbled "How do you know my name?"

 _Crap!_ Robyn thought, realising she had put her foot in it before effortlessly lying "I saw your photo on the news, you won Young Photographer of the year the night of the wave."

"Yeah…" Sasha replied, letting go of Scarlet's paws and started nervously fiddling with the camera hanging around her neck "…What are you called?"

"I'm Scarlet." The heroine replied in the calmest voice se could manage, wanting to make Sasha feel safe. "So what are you doing out so late? Do your family know you're out and about?"

"No, please don't tell them!" Sasha fretted.

"Relax, I'm not a snitch." Scarlet responded, holding her paws up. "But why are you out alone?"

"…Trying to get photos of you and the other heroes. " Sasha confided.

"What?" Scarlet reacted, partly mad and partly confused.

"I wanted to get photos of you and your friends, you all have stars so I figured you were on the same team." Sasha explained, pointing at the Star of Ceartais on Scarlet's arm.

"I don't want to make you feel bad but you gotta' know that's a dumb idea." Scarlet scolded mildly "You could've gotten killed."

"Believe me, I know." Sasha concurred with a shaky voice, she still seemed like a nervous wreck.

At that moment Spitfire arrived back and cursed as she landed back on the ground "Shit."

"What?" Scarlet asked.

"I've got Maid to call the cops, that place is a bloodbath, it's just like the kid said; they were torn apart." Spitfire relayed then looked down at Sasha "You said it was a monster?"

"The M-monster of t-the meadowlands." Sasha stammered, intimidated by the mech "It told me to run."

Spitfire eyed the camera around her neck and asked "Did you take any photos of this Monster?"

"Yeah…" Sasha answered, sticking close to the friendlier seeming Scarlet.

"Hand the camera over." Spitfire ordered holding out a large metal hand.

"No!" Sasha shrilled clutching the camera to her chest.

"I don't have time for games kid, hand it over." Spitfire enforced stepping closer and looming over the frightened photographer.

Scarlet stepped in between the two, shielding Sasha before saying in a stern voice "Spitifire, can I have a word?" before turning back to Sasha "Don't worry Sasha we'll only be a minute."

Scarlet took hold of Spitfire's arm and guided her to about ten feet away then harshly whispered "Take it easy on her, will ya'?"

"She has evidence of a murder, it has to be passed to police, both your parents are cops you know how this works." Spitfire justified.

"Look you can't take Sasha's camera, she needs it." Scarlet informed in a very quiet voice, glancing back at the young antelope who was gawking back. "She has anxiety issues, the camera helps her cope, if you want her pictures you'll have to be a bit more gentle."

"How do you know this kid?" Spitfire questioned, wondering how Scarlet knew so much about the youngster.

"She's Mage's little sister." Scarlet unveiled with a whisper.

"What!?" Spitfire barked "But they're…"

"Adopted, both of them." Scarlet pre-emptively answered.

Spitfire took a moment before saying "Mage needs to know about this, we can't keep him out of the loop. She needs to come to the bunker with us so we can sort all this mess out."

"Are you sure about this?" Scarlet wondered, debating whether or not this was a good idea.

"No, but what other choice do we have?" Spitfire asked rhetorically before speaking into her comm link "Spitfire to Maid; send Bella to my location and put the kettle on, we're going to have a guest joining us at the Bunker."

000

In their race to repair the damaged weather plant and regain environmental control over all districts of Zootopia, the engineers had unfortunately screwed up. The plant was making it cooler than the sweltering heatwave that had plagued the district for a few weeks, but now it was too cool. It was ice cold in savannah central, so much that if you were blindfolded and lead into this district, you would assume you were in tundra town. Pipes and vehicles were not freezing solid, but mammals were. It didn't help that the heating system in Kion and Jasiri's apartment had broken as well, something she was openly mad about seeing as every other apartment in the building was nicely heated.

Right now Kion was laying in bed trying to go to sleep. The lion was dressed in a sweatshirt and long pants, and hoping he didn't have to patrol around here as his hulking alter ego while this engineered cold snap gripped the district. As he grumbled internally about not being able to fall asleep, the door to his room opened and Kion's ears perked up when he heard Jasiri's sweet voice "Kion?"

"Uh, yeah?" He said turning his head to look at the hyena, seeing that she was dressed in the same sort of clothing as he was, thick and insulated.

"I'm f-freaking freezing" Jasiri stated while standing in the doorway, Kion noticed her teeth were chattering and her body was shivering. "This is the warmest room in the ap-apartment. Do-do you mind if I sleep in here?" she asked with puppy dog eyes.

"Umm…. No, I don't mind" Kion answered in a flustered manner, unable to refuse that face. He also figured out that this was the most the pair had talked since the embarrassing 'Tent-Pitching' incident. Kion expected the alluring hyena to curl up on the floor with a blanket, but instead she came over to the bed and lifted the blanket up partway. Kion froze not from the cold but the sheer shock of Jasiri's boldness, he couldn't believe he was about to share a bed with a girl, even if it was just platonic and just for warmth. _Don't get excited, don't get excited_ he willed mentally, praying that his body wouldn't embarrass him yet again.

"Oh, you are warm!" Jasiri said happily.

"GAH!" Kion yelped as her ice cold tail touched some of his exposed fur. Jasiri wrapped her arms around Kion and nuzzled into his warm body while Kion was too stunned to move, he was like a statue unwilling to move because he didn't trust his body not to react to having his crush so close. The smell of the honey shampoo Jasiri used on her mane was making Kion's pulse hasten and the feeling of her body pressed against his was sending him to the brink of an infatuation fuelled nervous breakdown

"Put your arms around me, I'm still cold" she urged, her cheek resting on Kion's soft red mane.

Kion gathered his courage and carefully put his arms around her, getting a content sigh and some purring out of the hyena. Kion was feeling warmer, well at least his face was. The lion assumed he must be blushing under his fur. He was thankful that the freezing cold temperature was preventing certain parts of his anatomy from getting excited.

"Goodnight" Jasiri said, smiling as she was finally able to warm up. As the hyena nodded off, Kion felt his heart pounding and wondered how he would get to sleep while he was feeling so nervous. Luckily he was pretty tired and eventually Kion couldn't stop his eyes from closing.

However the sleep didn't last long; two hours later Kion was woken up by the bleep of his phone's text alert, he reached over to his bedside table and read the message 'Bunker ASAP, Emergency!- Maid' "Ugh, great." Kion groaned, attempting to get of bed but the snoozing Jasiri had tangled herself round Kion. As Kion made a second attempt to climb out of bed he felt Jasiri's arms holding him back, she made displeased sounds as he tried to escape her grasp.

"Sorry, I have to get going" he spoke softly, trying to break free. "I have to go to work."

"But I'm warm and cosy" Jasiri whined in a sleepy voice, her eyes still shut "What kind a job needs you in the middle of the night?"

"Look I really have to go." Kion dodged, really not wanting to leave.

"Five more minutes" she said, akin to a child.

"Sorry." Kion said before finally managing to wrangle free of Jasiri's embrace, he grabbed a change of clothes from his closet before going to the bathroom to change leaving a perplexed Jasiri pondering what her roommate's job was and more importantly how many more hints would she have to drop that she wanted to be something more than just friends.

000

Sasha was feeling overwhelmed over how the last hour had played out, between seeing a monster destroy a few Drowned members, meeting Scarlet and Spitfire and now being sat in their secret base after being brought here by a talking pick-up truck was flooding Sasha's mind with bafflement and questions. What made it more odd was the fact that two English foxes in their sixties were manning the secret base, with an elderly vixen typing away at a massive bank of computer screens with multiple keyboards and a tod who was more concerned with serving tea. "Here you go miss, drink up." Robin sr. smiled, passing the cup and saucer to Sasha.

"Thank you." Sasha replied politely, grateful for the beverage. She was sat on the sofa in the observation deck with Scarlet beside her, whom had comforted all the way through this crazy journey, although Sasha couldn't shake the feeling that this hooded ninja with a scarf covering her muzzle was familiar not just by looks and her voice but also her protective nature.

Spitfire, who was still in her armour, had been stood at the window of the observation deck for the last thirty minutes looking at the bunker entrance waiting for the three other members of Team Ceartais to show up, just when she was about to call Kion's phone the ramp atop of the spiral driveway came down and Bella with her three passengers descended. "They're here." Spitfire stated.

"Who's here?" Sasha asked Scarlet anxiously.

"The rest of the team, you wanted to meet them right?" Scarlet soothed.

Kodi parked Bella up in her usual spot and the three remaining heroes emerged, all in their hero uniforms but Kion wasn't in 'Elixir' mode. The three climbed the stairs to the observation deck with haste, Hannah was the first to enter the room already talking at high speed "Sorry we took so long, it was hard sneaking out of Nick and Judy's apartment, luckily there's a drainpipe by the spare room window….wait." Hannah then sniffed the air, noticing a familiar scent and then she sensed the extra body in the room sitting next to her girlfriend, she was about to say Sasha's name when Kodi burst in with Kion behind him.

"What's the emergency!?" He asked with urgency but all his bravado was swept away the moment he saw his little sister "Sasha?" Kodi's worried mind exploded with so many questions _Why is she here!? Did someone hurt her!? Oh my god, she's been crying! Did Robyn and Olivia rescue her? Did she sneak into the bunker?_

"Kodi?" Sasha asked sounding unsure, rising to her feet and tilting her head to look at 'The Mage', the fur markings, the voice, his eyes, there was no doubt about it, it was her big brother "Kodi!" Sasha gasped racing over to him and leaping into his waiting arms.

" _What are you doing here? Are you ok?"_ Kodi asked speedily in Spanish, hugging Sasha tightly.

" _I'm ok, I got away, the Drowned nearly caught me."_ Sasha responded also in Spanish, feeling tears starting to sting her eyes, she was so happy to see Kodi right now no matter how confusing the situation.

" _The Drowned!? Oh my god, did they hurt you!? How did you escape!?"_ Kodi panicked, all the worst possible scenarios playing over in his head making him feel sick to his stomach.

"Ahem!" Robin sr. cleared his throat, catching the Jones siblings' attention, the old thief then said in perfect Spanish " _I know you're happy to see each other but we have business to discuss and sadly not everyone here can speak Spanish."_

"My bad." Kodi apologised, nodding at Robin sr.

"Wait." Sasha mumbled before yelling "You're a super hero!?"

"Y-yeah." Kodi confirmed with an awkward smile.

"But the powers?! Are you really a wizard?!" Sasha asked loudly.

Kodi sighed and motioned Sasha back to the sofa "Time for me to explain some things."

Over the next thirty minutes everything was explained to Sasha; the other members of the team unveiled their identities to the stunned girl with Olivia's emergence from her mech suit the biggest (Or smallest) surprise. The role of Team Ceartais was laid out for her, along with how Robyn, Hannah and Kion had gained their powers as well as how tech made it appear Kodi was actually a wielder of magic. Sasha was struggling to absorb all this info but she got the gist of it; her big brother and his friends were now super heroes.

"Have you got any questions for us?" Hannah asked, concerned for the younger girl's mindset.

"Do any of your parents know about this?" Sasha asked, doubting her own parents knew about Kodi's secret.

"No, none of us have told our parents." Kion answered, not feeling guilty in slightest.

"Technically my sister and grandparents on my Dad's side knows, but that's about it." Robyn clarified, nodding at Robin sr. and Marian.

"Um, Hannah, what about your stripes?" Sasha asked a question that had been bugging her.

"Oh, it's a surgical fur paint, watch." Hannah said, taking out one of the aerosol cans off her belt and spraying it on her tail, making her signature stripes reappear.

"Huh." Sasha sounded, looking at Hannah's swishing tail.

"So now it's my turn ask you a question," Kodi announced "what the hell were you thinking? Going out late at night trying to get photos, why?"

Sasha already felt terrible about what had happened but saw no need to hide the truth from her brother "I was trying to get photos of you guys for BarkFeed, I kind of got a job there." She admitted.

"Wait, what?" Kodi exclaimed "Why do you need a job? We're rich as hell!"

"Because one recommendation from their editor will get me into the best photography school in the country, I want to do this on my own, I don't want a generous donation from Mom to be the reason I get ahead in life." Sasha justified.

"Sasha…" Kodi simply said, seeing his sister's point but unable to quiet his anger over her actions either.

"Well maybe this whole situation could work to our advantage." Marian's cheeky voice cut in.

"How do you mean my love?" Robin sr. asked knowing his wife's mischievous tone anywhere.

"We want Team Ceartais to be the opposite of the MM gang, we want them to be in the limelight so they can give hope to Zootopians but to do that we would need someone we trust in media," Marian explained before looking at Sasha "someone like this young lady right here. You'll introduce yourself to public and give Sasha here the scoop of the year."

"You mean you'll let me take pictures of you guys?" Sasha asked, gaining back a bit of her excitement.

"Of course my dear, but we will need one thing in exchange." Marian stipulated.

"Which is?" Sasha queried dubiously.

"The memory card from your camera, we need to see if this Monster of the Meadowlands is more than some urban legend." Marian gave her terms.

"I don't know…" Sasha mumbled, clutching her camera tighter.

"Look Sasha, if you do this you can take all the photos you want of us, we win the hearts and minds of the public, you get your recommendation and we find out what this monster is; it's a win-win." Olivia persuaded, Sasha found her a lot less intimidating now she was out of her mech.

"Kodi?" Sasha looked up at the wolf for advice.

"We're not going to force you, it's your choice." Kodi replied, trusting her judgement.

With a sigh Sasha open the side of the camera and popped out the memory card and passed it to Kodi while saying "Please be quick."

"Right." Kodi smiled trotting over to the computer bank and inserting the card into one of the memory card slots.

Marian began typing away and uttered "Now what have we got here." She clicked on an image from a couple of hours ago and it appeared on the large screen so everyone can see, it was blurred but they could clearly see a figure about twelve feet in size covered head to toe in rags slashing it's claws across a giraffe with a streak of blood flying from it. "What the?" Robyn mused, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

"What does it look like?" Hannah asked, eager to know.

"Like a giant hobo, I can't even tell what species it is." Robyn answered as best she could.

"The largest predator around is a Polar bear but the body doesn't look right." Kodi tried to decipher.

Suddenly Olivia erupted with a "BOLLOCKS!" which sounded extra angry with her Scottish accent, everyone's eyes darted towards the mouse stood on the table "I'm thick, I'm so bloody thick! Ugh, I'm a bleddin' idiot!" she cursed self, stomping around the table pulling at the longer fur atop of her head.

"What is it?" Hannah questioned, wondering why the rodent was raging.

"I was so focused on the search I didn't even consider the possibility of a change in appearance!" Olivia continued to berate herself.

"Olivia, talk some sense." Robyn implored.

"The tail! Look at the Monster's tail!" Olivia barked, pointing at the photo on the screen.

Kion looked at the tail and noticed a long white feline tail with a tuft of black fur on the end "It's a lion's tail." He realised.

"Correction, a Lioness' tail, it's Kiara!" Olivia dropped the bombshell.

"What? No, Kiara ain't that tall." Robyn commented.

"Yeah plus her fur's golden." Kodi threw in

"Hmm, let me think; which other Lion do we know change's body size and fur colour?" Olivia asked sarcastically.

"Kiara." Kion gasped, his brown eyes getting watery at finally seeing evidence of his sister alive.

"That must've been why Phelps arms targeted Kion directly, he shares similar genetics with his sister who must've already had the elixir system implanted into her, they knew he wouldn't die from the transformation." Olivia summarised, still mentally kicking himself for not figuring it out sooner.

"But why hasn't she come home? Why didn't she go back to the army?" Kion asked, forcing back his tears.

"I…don't know." Olivia answered in a defeated voice.

"But now we know she's alive, we can help her, we can bring her home." Hannah rallied.

"Yeah, the Monster of the Meadowlands should be a lot easier to track down than a normal Lioness." Robyn chimed in.

"…Um, what's going on?" Sasha spoke up, feeling out of her depth.

"Long story, we'll tell you while you're snapping pics of us." Kodi promised.

000

Fuli Duma was stood in front of a high spec camcorder with about a dozen or so of her Drowned brethren behind the camera watching her as she began her 'sermon'. Fuli who was dressed in the same grey cloak with the emblem skeletal paw holding a dagger clearly displayed on the right arm looked straight into the camera and greeted in her serene voice "Hello Zootopia, I am Fuli, the first of the Drowned. I am sure you have heard of us through various news outlets be it ZNN or BarkFeed, the news has been spun to describe us as a cult of killers…but this is a half truth. Yes we are the ones behind the so called bucket murders but in actual fact those corpses are the failed initiates who didn't pass the test the Wave set out for us."

Fuli then moved to another part of the large room she was stood in and the camera followed her to a red curtain covering a large cube like object that was easily ten feet tall "You see the Wave washed away the weak and only the strongest remained, now it's time for all of Zootopia to be tested by the Wave's will. The rich elite, the specists, the gangsters, the rapists and those who align themselves with them will now be targeted, they will not be tested, their fates have already been sealed by their crimes against mammalkind. And as for the normal everyday Zootopians whom cross of her path, you shall be given a chance, the same chance that I and the rest of my Drowned brothers and sisters had, if you pass the test you be welcomed into our family with open arms but if you don't then the Wave's will has been done."

Fuli then pulled away the red curtain that was covering the cube shaped object to reveal a massive glass tank filled with water "And now we will show a demonstration of the Wave's justice, Hathi bring out the weak!"

An bull Indian elephant came into view dragging three mammals in chains behind him; a female groundhog, a teenaged male maned wolf and a pangolin. "Oh Christ, please let me go!" Gloria Drake, the groundhog, pleaded.

"No, no, no." The Maned Wolf whimpered, actually wetting himself with terror.

The Pangolin was the only one keeping his composure, he had a stern look on his face which defied the fear he was feeling in his heart.

"Each of these mammals are guilty of making society weaker;" Fuli announced in an engaging manner, looking into the camera "this groundhog is Gloria Drake, the head of the Zootopia Conservative Association, she has spread her multiple prejudices through the populace while embezzling tax payers money during her time as a city councilwoman to fund her lavish lifestyle. The Maned Wolf is Clark White, a boy millionaire who ejected those left homeless by the wave off his spacious acres of land surrounding his mansion, going so far as to shoot an elderly puma who begged for mercy. And finally the pangolin; Manuel Iniesta, a hitman for the mob in the rainforest district, countless lives including those of innocents have died by his hand. All of them escaped judgement the night of the Wave, but now we will finish what the wave began."

Fuli then took a deep breath and bellowed "This city shall be cleansed!" hoping this message would burn into the hearts and minds of Zootopians.

Hahti, the bull elephant took this as his cue and lifted all three captives by their chains and tossed them into the tank with the screams of Gloria and Clark screaming in horror. The weight of the chains caused all three to sink to the bottom with a clunk and thud, Manuel had closed his eyes and decided not to fight against his doom, letting the water fill his lungs. Gloria thrashed and screamed so much that the precious air escaped her mouth and the water flooded her airway killing her quickly. Clark was trying his best to hold his breath but the immense pressure of the carbon dioxide in his lungs was agony, finally his body betrayed him and his opened his mouth and breathed in his watery end. It was all over in less than three minutes, Gloria's terrified face twisted and frozen, Clark's open eyes bulging with terror and Manuel had curled up into a ball and let death take him.

Fuli nodded to the pig holding the camera as a signal to stop recording she then instructed "Make sure that video gets online within the hour, send a copy to all the media outlets as well."

"You got it." The Pig obeyed, trotting away.

The crowd dispersed leaving Fuli watching the first three victims of the cleansing, the first of many to come. "You did well." A deep voice complimented, Fuli turned to see her generals; Beshte the Hippo and Bunga the honey badger approaching wearing the same cloaks as Fuli.

"I was only doing the work of the wave Beshte." Fuli smiled.

"Of course." Beshte responded, bowing slightly at his leader.

"I am afraid we bring some bad news; our contacts in the ZPD have informed us that three of our brethren have been slain by some creature." Bunga informed, his voice was higher than you would expect.

"A creature?" Fuli repeated, wanting an explanation.

"This beast tore a giraffe in half and ripped the other two to shreds, we must avenge our fallen siblings." Beshte stated with a fire in his voice

"No." Fuli gave a small smile, the cogs in her head turning.

"Fuli?" Bunga gawped, wondering what his leader was thinking.

"This creature is strong and we need strength," Fuli mused "Bunga I want your scouts to search for this monster, do not approach or fight with it, when you have it's location come to me."

"Of course, but what are you going to do?" Bunga obeyed.

"I'm going to recruit this mystery monster into our family." Fuli informed with a coy smile.

"Is that wise?" Beshte worried.

"If I am killed during this little conversation I know you both will carry on the Wave's work." Fuli said with surety.

"The Wave's work will be done." Both commanders replied in unison and with a small bow.

"I am glad you are Beshte here actually, I have a gift for your troops." Fuli branched, walking over to a stack of twenty or so wooden crates stacked in the corner of the dark room and lifting off one of the loose lids, showing dozens of assault rifles.

"Whoa." Bunga exclaimed.

"Where did you get these?" Beshte questioned Fuli, looking at the guns with awe.

"A friend in a high place shares our goal of cleansing Zootopia of the weak, these guns are a sign of his commitment to the Drowned." Fuli informed, taking out one of the rifles from the crate "And these will come in very handy for our next objective."

"Oh?" Bunga sounded "Is it to do with our next cleansing?"

"Exactly." Fuli confirmed.

"Which three are next for the tank?" Beshte asked with eagerness.

"I want you to track and capture the entitled children of criminals who got rich from other people's misery. I want the heiress to the Big fortune; Judy Big, the spoilt son of that gangster Missad; Samson and the daughter of one of the most corrupt bankers that ever lived; Victoria Todd, bring me her daughter Luna Wilde." Fuli ordered, looking at the tank and already picturing their dead faces floating in the water.

000

Dawn rose across Zootopia, the streets were just starting to fill up with traffic, mammals in both homes and wave towns woke to face the challenges of their day, soon the city would be abuzz with activity and noise but in one small corner of the Meadowlands it rarely got noisy. The Grand Pine cemetery was reserved for the richest citizens of Zootopia and consequently was not very full and rarely hosted a funeral. But on this dawn a mourner came to pay their respects, he had been out of Zootopia for far too long and wanted to visit his departed friend, he got out of his chauffer driven Rolls Royce and slowly made his way to his friend's gravestone. Three minutes later the mourner reached the gravestone which was gigantic compared to his rodent form, the grave itself was black marble with a floral design etched with gold surrounding the name 'Madame Bahati Missad.'

The mourner took off his top hat before laying down a small daisy, which seemed large in his paws, but it was a tradition among rodents to lay the tiny flower at graves. Professor Padraic Rattigan looked at the gravestone and spoke "Hello Bahati, I have missed you so much. I'm sorry I wasn't there for your funeral, I'm glad you weren't buried in a jail yard, you deserve this gravesite, it befits your standing."

Rattigan stepped closer and touched the gravestone and continued "What has happened to our city? We used to rule this place like the emperors of old, but now street thugs litter our streets, the Bigs have gone legitimate, a cult is murdering mammals left, right and centre and all those so called 'Gangsters' pale in comparison to the example we set."

The sixty year old rat felt a tear roll down his face "We were the only ones who truly understood one another, the only ones who had the vision to create an empire, you really were my best friend…and I'm going to claim back our empire and make sure no one forgets your name."

(AN/DUN DUN DUN! Rattigan's back!? The Drowned are going after Luna and Lil' Judy Big!? Kiara is the Monster!? What did you guys think? Please please please REVIEW! Next time on SOC; the hunt for Kiara is on, Judy tries to weed out the Drowned spy in precinct 1 and the election begins. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	17. I won't give up, I won't give in

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. I want to thank you all for helping this fic reach over 900 reviews, 300 followers and over 50k views! You are all awesome. A massive thank to the SOC team who helped craft this chapter, especially to chorpion who beta'd this chapter, so without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 16- I won't give up, I won't give in.**

The eccentric red panda owner/editor of BarkFeed known as Mr Boehm was sat behind at his desk in his spacious office with Sasha Jones AKA Miss Ojos. She had come in to hand over photos of the 'Monster of the Meadowlands' that had saved her from three drowned attackers. Boehm had been looking at the photos for about thirty seconds in silence until he dismissed them as"Crap, crap, mega crap."

"What? Those photos are good." Sasha protested.

"Kid these are blurry as hell and look like they've been ripped from a cheesy horror film, I'll give you $50 each for them cuz' of the crappy quality." Boehm bickered.

"I give you three images of not only a urban legend but three drowned members getting killed as well and you're only going to offer my a $150 for the lot?! Pfft, I'll take my business elsewhere." Sasha tutted, taking back the photos.

"Fine, $175." Bohem replied.

"$250." Sasha bartered.

"$200, that's my final offer." Boehm stated with force.

"Deal." Sasha grinned, watching Mr Boehm write out the payment slip.

Boehm handed over the slip and grumbled "I ask you to get photos of those costumed nut jobs and you bring me a god damn conspiracy theorist's fantasy, I thought you said you could get those pictures."

"Oh but I did." Sasha gave a coy smile.

"What!?" Boehm squeaked "Why didn't you show me them in the first place!?"

"To make sure you'd pay for the monster photos." Sasha smirked.

Mr Boehm let out a simmering grunt before asking "So what have you got kid?"

"Dozens of photos, interviews with all five superheroes, their names and powers, all the stuff you could ever want." Sasha taunted, holding up a USB stick.

Boehm looked at the USB stick as if it was the holy grail with the red panda's brown eyes shiny and wide "Kid...you best not be fooling me."

"It's all on there," Sasha tossed the stick to Boehm before adding "but I want that recommendation typed up by tomorrow…plus my pay."

"If you keep bringing me stuff like this you're going to bankrupt me." Boehm griped, inserting the stick into computer on his desk, already picturing how the article would look on his website. The article was online within ninety minutes and was trending within another twenty, soon enough everyone was reading the story of Zootopia's super heroes…

 **EXCLUSIVE: BarkFeed conducts exclusive interview with Team Ceartais, Zootopia's newest vigilantes! Are they friends or foes?**

The article went in depth with how their freelance photojournalist Miss Ojos was rescued by Spitfire and Scarlet and how she asked for an interview which they gladly gave. However the real team embellished (or flat out fabricated) their origins to make them seem more epic and theatrical with high quality photos of the team member for extra oomph, but there was also the added bonus of throwing the scent off their true identities. For example;

 **The Undying Scarlet.** _This mysterious maiden in red was killed the night of the Wave but rose from the grave when her restless spirit witnessed how criminals are preying on the weak of Zootopia, with her enhanced strength and athletic skills there are no thugs in the city she can't chase down._

 **Bullet.** _A gunslinger with pinpoint accuracy, this arctic vixen is always two steps ahead of any criminals in this city. With her special sleeper ammo any criminal who is caught in her crosshairs will fall into a deep slumber and then wake up in a jail cell._

 **Roar.** _This titanic cat is a powerhouse of strength that can best the largest of enemies without even breaking a sweat. Created in a lab to fight in wars across the globe this brave feline chose to fight the war at home._

 **The Mage.** _Trained in the mystic arts from a young age this wolf uses his magic to make Zootopia a safer place. Whether criminals are face to face with him or he's behind the wheel of his trusty truck the cards will always favour this wizard._

 **Spitfire.** _This mechanized vigilante has been about for just over five years but was seen by many as urban legend. This Robot is programmed to protect the innocent mammals of Zootopia and won't stop until the job is done._

It wasn't long before Team Ceartais was made aware of the article, thanks to a text from Sasha. Robyn and Hannah were sitting in the living room of the Wilde family home after getting back from their schools. Robyn had just finished reading the piece from the BarkFeed app "They make me sound like a zombie." Robyn criticized, staring at her phone.

"Oh it's not that bad." Hannah hushed, lounging on the sofa beside her girlfriend.

"It says 'I rose from the grave', that's a zombie right there." Robyn parried.

"Would you rather have the fact that you're a high schooler with nanomachines in her blood giving you superpowers, be publicized?" Hannah smiled.

"No." Robyn sighed, leaning back on the sofa. "Anyway how was school?"

"Still humiliating," Hannah admitted "I'm still in class with six year olds."

"I'm sorry babe, I wish I could be there with you." Robyn supported, entwining her paw with Hannah's.

"Thanks but actually, I'm more worried about my Mom and Dad over this whole Drowned thing." Hannah confided with a downtrodden look "Don't get me wrong I like staying here but I miss them."

"I'd miss my folks too if I were your situation, but we got to stay positive. The sooner we catch Fuli, the sooner everyone will be safe." Robyn encouraged.

Hannah smiled for a moment, imagining Robyn's beautiful face in her mind before leaning in and saying "Well there is one advantage to staying here, I get to spend more time with you."

Despite the fact that they had been dating for a nearly three months Robyn still got giddy and flustered when Hannah flirted wither. Robyn's navy blue eyes focusing on Hannah's paw as it was raised to her face, the striped hybrid then touched Robyn's cheek so she could 'See' her smile. "I love it when you smile." Hannah said in a gentle voice.

"You always make me smile." Robyn replied with a goofy lovesick grin on her muzzle.

Hannah then leaned in closer, her mouth was an inch away from Robyn's "Let's see if I can make that smile bigger." Hannah then caressed Robyn's face before her paws moved up behind her ears in an attempt to pull her in closer for a kiss, however she didn't bank on Robyn's reaction; the red furred hybrid let out a gasp, her heart rate sky rocketed and her foot started thumping the floor very fast like her rabbit kin. This odd reaction caused Hannah to fuss worry "You ok? Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Robyn answered with haste and embarrassment "it's just, um, my ears are my weak spot."

"You mean it feels good?" Hannah asked further, her tail swishing as mischievous thoughts entered her head. Before Robyn could say another word Hannah's paws snapped to the roots of Robyn's ears and massaged them causing a mew to escape her mouth and her to melt onto the sofa like a puddle.

"Hannah…stop." Robyn breathed, her voice almost purring as the odd massage made her head hazy.

"You sound so cute though." Hannah gave a puckish grin.

Robyn gathered her strength and focus to break free of the hypnotising sensation then pinned Hannah on the sofa to the sound a playful growl "Watch who you're calling cute."

"I'm half bunny, I can say the C word all I want." Hannah chuckled, making no attempt to break free of Robyn's pin. "Cute, cute, cute! My girlfriend is so cute!"

"Shut up!" Robyn said bashfully, not really minding being called cute by Hannah, but if it were anyone else she's knock their block off.

"Make me." Hannah masked an invitation as a dare.

Robyn took the hint and connected her lips with Hannah's, both of them closing their eyes and getting lost in the kiss. Robyn let go Hannah's wrists and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close. Hannah hugged back and positioned herself so the two were both laying on their sides while they continued to kiss, Robyn had just sneaked her tongue into Hannah's mouth when both girls heard the sound of keys jingling in the door, both their eyes shot open in panic as the two fumbled away from one another as fast as they could.

"Robyn, Hannah, you hom-" Judy began to call out as she walked through the front door but stopped when she saw her youngest daughter and her girlfriend awkwardly trying to separate and act natural.

"H-hey Mom." Robyn greeted anxiously, her paw pads sweating.

Judy arched an eyebrow and smirked at the two lovebirds "Busted."

"We weren't doing anything." Hannah lied unconvincingly as Nick came through the door behind Judy.

Nick read the awkward tension in the room and asked his wife "Carrots, what's going on?"

"Just teenagers being teenagers." Judy laughed, watching both girls move to separate ends of the sofa and keeping their heads down to hide their embarrassed expressions.

000

A week can seem like a short amount of time in some places but not in Zootopia, a lot can happen in a sprawling metropolis within a week. It had been seven days since Sasha Jones' photos hit BarkFeed and everyone in the city was now obsessed with the superheroes, the antics of Team Ceartais were often the top news story leaving the mayoral election and the crimes of The Drowned at second billing. Even after the very graphic execution of three mammals at the hands of The Drowned was posted online the cult had gone rather quiet. Some mammals started speculating after the robbery of some food and water supply trucks that the cult were preparing for an epic battle against Team Ceartais like the Iron Ram or Super Mongoose movies. But the week had been excruciatingly long for one mammal in particular; Kion Priderock.

Ever since he had seen the photographic evidence of Kiara alive he had been more determined than ever to find his big sister, he and the rest of the team had been searching across the meadowlands every night for the last week and yet there was no sign of the infamous 'Monster of the Meadowlands'. Kion's mind drifted to thoughts of; if Kiara was hurt? If she was trapped? And most grimly, if she was even alive? But everyone in the team dashed those thoughts as soon they were spoken making sure that Kion knew they weren't given up on Kiara and neither should he.

But now that a week had passed, the day of the election had arrived, no opponents stepped forward to challenge Nick and Alana for city hall, so as long as one Zootopian voted for them it was a done deal that they would be elected, but seeing as both Nick and Alana had both voted for themselves it was already confirmed; Nick Wilde was the new mayor of Zootopia. And despite the fact that Nick and Alana wanted to save tax dollars by skipping the victory party the state governor had already told them that a wealthy donor had already sprung for the victory party at the Chesterfield Hotel's function room in the heart of Savannah central.

It was just before 11pm when Nick and Judy along with Alana and her boyfriend Bailey walked into the function room to be met with a crowd of three hundred or so mammals cheering as the entered the room. Both candidates were stunned by the reception but the suave Nick Wilde fixed his tie and joked aloud "Well looks like I'm crashing the party." Which garnered some chuckles, Nick scanned the room while they were laughing there was a high end buffet, a bar, streamers, balloons and a DJ in the corner playing hits from when Nick considered himself a young fox, bottom line was this party was expensive.

"Thank you so much for tuning out and voting today." Alana thanked in a loud voice, the white tailed deer wearing a gorgeous claret dress.

"Ok so which one of you schmucks forked out so much dough for this party?" Nick asked in a joyful manner but inside he really wanted to know who had paid for the party.

"Right here," A familiar voice sounded, raising her paw "I'm the schmuck." Luna Wilde walked out of the crowd up to her father, flanked by Robyn and her boyfriend Aleks.

"You, Kiddo?" Nick asked in a quieter voice, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, I figured you'd pull one of those 'Saving money' ploys so I decided to pay for this whole thing." Luna smiled before pointing at her younger sister, who felt uncomfortable in a ruby coloured dress "Actually you can thank Robbie, it was her idea."

"Yeah well I heard you mention you weren't going to have a party so I roped Luna in." Robyn explained.

"Thank you girls, you two are the most perfect daughters a parent could ask for." Nick replied genuinely and lough enough for the crowd, including the press to hear, before instinctively adding "But it ain't over till it's over, until the polls close I'm still just a cop."

"Oh come on Captain, I voted for you, one vote surely that means you're mayor." Aleks threw in, the dapper grey fox was dressed in his best suit.

"Thanks Rookie, but remember if I'm not elected that means I'm still your boss and rest assured if I'm still your boss in the morning I'll make you do thirty laps around the precinct." Nick jibed, part of him wishing he was still able to torment his daughter's boyfriend a bit longer.

"Aleks, he's just messing with you." Judy assured while giving her husband an elbow in the gut "Thank you for your vote."

"Oh my little kit is going to mayor, I can't believe it." A excited voice gushed, Nick turned to his parents; Marian and Robin sr. appeared out of the crowd and wrapped their son in a very tight hug.

"We're proud of you, son." Robin sr. spoke, hardly believing that his son had come so far in life, much more than he could've imagined.

Alana smiled at the scene and felt a paw take hold of her hoof, she turned to see her boyfriend Bailey looking at her with love and admiration, the cougar was dressed in a grey suit with a white shirt "I knew you were destined for great things." He said to her, staring into one another's eyes.

"Well I am the toughest doe in Sherwood." Alana bragged jokingly "But I am going to miss working at the relief centre."

"Don't worry I'll be fine running it plus with you and Nick in city hall those mammals in the wave towns will get the help they need." Bailey encouraged, Alana didn't reply with words but showed her appreciation by kissing her love on the cheek before nuzzling into his neck.

Across the other side of the function room Hannah was just stepping out of the female bathroom when her super sensitive ears picked up two voices that she had wanted to hear in person all week, with her cane out she made her way across to the source of the voices, sat at the bar were Jack and Skye chatting about what drinks they were going to order. "Mom, Dad?" Hannah asked hopefully.

The Savages turned to see their daughter and both their faces lit up with joy "Little one!" Jack exclaimed, hopping down from his bar stool and rushing to hug his much taller daughter.

"Oh, we've missed you." Skye chimed in, joining the hug.

"I wasn't sure if you guys were going to be here or not." Hannah said, treasuring the hug.

"Well we wanted to come and cheer Nick on." Jack commented "But we also wanted to give you some good news."

"Hmm?" Hannah sounded.

"You can come home." Skye revealed with a smile, happy that her baby would be coming back.

"Really?" Hannah nearly squeaked.

"Yep, your Mom got some MCB agents from another state to keep an eye on the house and protect us if The Drowned come a knocking." Jack explained.

Despite still be worried Hannah was overjoyed with this news and hugged her parents again.

An hour or so passed at the party and the polls had been closed for a while, it was only a matter of time before the results were declared and Nick would officially be mayor. Judy was at the bar getting a vodka and coke while Nick was chatting to Jack, she was happy for her dumb fox and was trying to enjoy herself but a niggling thought kept chipping away at her happiness; The Drowned. Ever since Skye had shot and killed Calvin Wayne in the interrogation room she had been haunted by the information disclosed during that interview, that there were Drowned informants within the ZPD and MCB. Judy took pride in the fact that she knew all the officers under her command by name, she had known most of them since she joined the force eighteen years ago, and she had seen the new recruits come fresh from the academy and blossom into great cops but now the difficult question remained; could she trust her officers? It's was a painful question to ask but the facts added up, it was too big of a coincidence that The Drowned knew exactly where Jack Savage and Detective Corona were going to be, someone had tipped the cult off. Judy of course had informed internal affairs of this accusation but due to the Zootopia branch being destroyed in the Wave the investigators would have to come from another city and there was no agents to spare until next week, but that was too long in Judy's book, someone innocent could die if this wasn't taken care of soon.

"Something on your mind, chief?" A intrigued voice asked, snapping Judy out of her muddled thoughts.

Judy turned to see one of her youngest cops, Aleks Rojek, collecting a fresh pint of beer from the bartender "You could say that." Judy admitted "And it's Judy when we're not a work, remember?"

"Sorry, Judy." Aleks corrected himself, taking a sip of his ale.

Judy looked around to see if any other cops were around before opening "Aleks, I need to talk to you about something."

"Yes?" Aleks replied, puzzled by the serious expression on his superior's face.

"You're aware of what was said during the Calvin Wayne interview?" Judy asked back.

"Sadly yes, the whole precinct is talking about it." Aleks answered honestly.

"I've begun an investigation into whether or not we have an informant in our ranks and I want your help?" Judy requested

"Me? But why? I'm in SWAT, I'm not a detective." Aleks responded.

"I've ruled you out as a suspect." Judy stated.

"Not to criticize you Judy but just because I'm dating your daughter doesn't mean that you should rule me out." Aleks observed.

Judy shook her head before correcting "That isn't the reason, furbook is the reason."

"Furbook?" Aleks repeated, wondering how the social media platform proved his innocence.

"You and Luna are pretty active on Furbook, you pretty much document your whole lives on that thing, so I know whenever you're not at work you're with Luna. To put it bluntly, you don't have the time to be a member of The Drowned." Judy elaborated.

Aleks gave an impressed smile at Judy's deduction before replying "So what do want me to do?"

"I want you to be my eyes in SWAT, you spend more time at the armoury and at the firing range than me, if I was a member of The Drowned I'd want to interfere with the ZPD's weapons." Judy proposed.

"You can count on me." Aleks promised with a nod.

"Ladies and gentlemammals," Nick's voice announced loudly, turning everyone's attention to him "the first results are coming in; I'm now mayor of Zootopia!" This caused a round of cheers and applause from everyone, Judy rushed over to husband to kiss and congratulate him. She willed herself to enjoy this moment, even though tomorrow she'd have to continue investigating her own cops.

000

It was just after nine am and Judy was sitting in her office in precinct 1, she was typing away at her computer, searching for any irregularities with her officers' computer activities when a knock came at her door, "Come in." She answered, closing the window on the screen just be safe.

The door opened and in entered Nala Priderock "You wanted to see me, Judy?" the Lioness asked, knowing that was ok to call the chief by her first name when it was just them.

"Yes Nala, please sit down." Judy said, motioning to one of the chairs on the opposite side of her desk, she wasn't looking forward to this conversation in the slightest.

"So, how come it feels like I'm in trouble?" Nala tried to inject a joke into the situation as she sat down.

"I just hope you're not in trouble." Judy commented, she felt awful about doing this, she had been friends with Nala for years, the lioness was one of her bridesmaids at her wedding, this sucked but Judy had to follow this through "I need to talk to you about some suspicious activity with your security clearance password."

"Um…" Was all Nala could manage.

"Internal affairs are coming to the ZPD next week to investigate the possible snitch in the precinct and I'm looking into any red flags…and your name came up. You've been using the CCTV room to look at security footage unrelated to your cases, now you need to give me a good reason for doing this or I'm going to have to pass this info onto internal affairs." Judy explained, feeling like the worst friend in the world.

"Judy, I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was doing anything wrong." Nala lamented, looking ashamed.

"Just tell me why and we can sort this out before it's too late." Judy persuaded.

"I was looking for Kiara." Nala confessed.

"What?" Judy reacted with surprise, she wasn't expecting this answer.

"Kion said something that's been playing on mind," Nala opened up, her eyes getting glossy with tears "he said that Kiara was in the canal district the night of the Wave, not at the army base. I went check the footage and I saw her park her car in an alley before sprinting off into the night."

"Nala." Judy whispered, not fathoming the heartbreak her friend was going through.

"The army lied to me, my baby might be alive somewhere." Nala wept.

"But how did Kion know about that? Have you asked him?" Judy enquired, trying to wrap her head around the new information.

"…Kion's not living at home anymore, he moved out." Nala confessed, tears soaking the fur on her cheeks.

Judy read the guilty look on Nala's face and asked "What happened?"

"I hit him," Nala revealed the painful truth, the actual sentence burned in her throat "I nearly broke his nose…oh god, what have I done?" she then began to bawl.

Judy instinctively jumped atop her desk and raced over to hug her upset friend "Oh, Nala." Judy sympathised, close to tears herself.

"I'm a terrible mother, I've lost one cub and the other hates my guts!" Nala wailed, hugging back the bunny as best she could but one paw easily covered most of Judy's body.

"Listen to me; you are a great mother! Kion loves you, things might be rough now but it will get better." Judy rallied.

"But what about Kiara, what if she's not really dead and lost out there somewhere?" Nala cried.

"Then we'll find her." Judy committed.

The heartfelt moment between the two cops was rudely interrupted by the ringing of Judy's smartphone, Judy pulled back from the hug with Nala and quickly said "Sorry." Before retrieving her phone from her pocket, she read the screen 'ALEKS CALLING', she pressed answer and opened with "Rojek, this isn't a good time."

" _Chief, I need you to come down to the firing range ASAP!"_ Aleks gave a stressed whisper over the phone.

Judy clocked onto the anxiety in the rookie's voice and asked in a serious tone "What's wrong?"

" _Just come quickly and quietly, try to act natural."_ Aleks instructed, sounding a little scared.

Judy knew it was best not to ask more questions and simply replied "I'll be right there." Before hanging up and telling Nala "Listen, I have to go the armoury to check something, I'll be back soon."

"Is something wrong?" Nala asked, wiping away some tears.

"I hope not, just hang tight, I'll be quick." Judy said, jumping down from her desk and heading out of her office.

Within two minutes and with a brisk pace Judy arrived in deserted armoury/firing range, well deserted apart from an alarmed Aleks standing by one of the firing range lanes, Judy marched over to the silver fox and asked "What's got you so spooked?"

"I was heading down here to practice my aim when I spotted a janitor I didn't know leaving very hastily out of the room, no one was around so I searched the room." Aleks explained before crouching down beside the lane and pointed under the table top where ammo was usually laid out "Then I found this."

Judy stepped over and peeked under the table to see a detonator usually used by SWAT officers to breach doors but this one had been modified with a lump of plastic explosive so large it could reduce this entire room to ashes, a crude digital timer was counting down 2 hours 58 minutes and 12 seconds, that's when alarm bells started ringing in Judy's head; Judy always practised at the firing range at midday without fail and this bomb was set to go off at ten past midday. Then Judy took note of the lane, lane number 4, the lane she had always used since she became a cop at this precinct. This bomb was meant for her.

"What do we do?" Aleks asked, trying to stay calm.

Judy quickly formed a plan in her head then said "We leave this room, lock the door, then pull the fire alarm, once everyone is out of the building we call in the bomb squad from another precinct."

"Very methodical and efficient, classic Hopps." A deep voice commented, startling Judy and Aleks.

The two scrambled from under the table top to see who spoke, both were shocked to see a white stallion detective and female warthog uniformed officer standing in the doorway. "Anders? Corona?" Judy gasped, hardly believing that these mammals she considered 'by the book' cops were traitors.

"Sorry about this chief, it's nothing personal." Anders spoke, getting her tranq pistol out of her holster "But you could ruin the Wave's will."

"That is why you must be removed." Maximus Corona added, getting out his own tranq pistol.

"No, no." Judy uttered with disbelief "Anders, I was there at your graduation, you were valedictorian of your class. Maximus, you were a cop before me, my Luna used to babysit your kids. Please tell me you were forced into this."

"I'm afraid not ma'am, please don't make this difficult." Anders replied.

"So it wasn't just a coincidence you were there during Calvin Wayne's interrogation? You were there to make sure Calvin's 'Suicide by cop' happened." Aleks accused the warthog.

"True, Calvin was willing to sacrifice himself for the cause, I was happy to help him achieve his goal." Anders answered in a steady voice.

Judy then realised and theorised aloud "There was no call to dispatch was there Corona, you led Jack to the Drowned?"

"He would've been a valuable ally to us, my role as the helpless detective was a back up in case things went awry, which it most certainly did." Corona explained.

"So what happens now?" Judy asked, throwing all sentiment away and replacing it with anger.

"We're going to knock you two out with Tranq darts then kill in your sleep, consider it a mercy." Anders informed, levelling her pistol on Aleks.

"You'd betray the badge?" Judy pointed to her own shield on her shirt, feeling a rage bubbling in her heart "You're no better than the criminals we fight against."

Maximums and Anders had blank expressions on their faces as they pulled the triggers of their tranq pistols…but nothing happened causing Aleks to snigger "I had a feeling you two were traitors, that's why I broke into the armoury first thing this morning and sabotaged your pistols."

"Sneaky fox." Anders grunted, putting away her gun and getting into a fighting position.

"Looks like we're going to do this the old fashioned way." Maximus grumbled, raising his hooves ready for combat, confident him and Anders could beat the much smaller mammals.

Judy and Aleks were unarmed, as Chief Judy rarely carried her sidearm, she kept it in the armoury and checked it out when she needed practice and as for Aleks he only got armed when SWAT had a job to take care of. Aleks got into a fighting stance and said to Judy "Chief, if this is it, let me just say it was an honour serving under you."

"We're not dying today, we're not giving up." Judy rallied, before eyeing the armoury, she knew that you needed the proper keys to get in however there was a slot in the cage to pass guns and ammo through, a slot small enough for a bunny to get through, she eyed the weapons behind the cage and quickly constructed a plan in her head. "Aleks I need you to buy me ten seconds." Judy mumbled.

Aleks trusted his chief and nodded "You got it."

Judy took a breath before bolting into action which in turn caused everyone else to spring as well, Maximus charged after Judy as she dashed for the armoury but she was too fast as she leapt up to the cage's desk and slipped through the hole. Aleks was across the other side of the room ducking and diving from Ander's strikes, delivering jabs to her body but they were having zero affect on the muscle bound sow. Maximus ran around to the cage's door trying to kick it open to no avail, Judy meanwhile had grabbed a baton that was a little too big for her and a tazer gun meant for a mammal her size, she knew that she would need the code to actually get into the guns and ammo but they were left with the quartermaster who was nowhere to be seen, Maximus saw Judy grab the weapons and ran back around to the hole in the cage just in time for Judy to spring out of the hole and escape Maximus' hooves as he tried to grab her, while she was in the air Maximus caught a glimpse of Judy's face that resembled thunder; dark, foreboding and unmerciful. Judy then let out a cry of wrath as she forced baton into Maximum's left eye, fracturing the bones around the socket and causing him to make a very equine neigh in pain before Judy landed on the armoury desk and fired of the tazer with both prongs embedding itself in the stallion's chest, her jerked and convulsed before falling to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Judy didn't have time to revel in her victory as heard a canine yelp from across the room, she saw Aleks slumped and dazed against a wall after being thrown against it. "Aleks!" Judy yelled, which only caught the attention of Anders who let a furious hog squeal erupt from her mouth before charging at the chief. Judy who was enraged herself galloped straight towards Anders and leapt at her face, she grabbed onto one of her tusks with one paw and started hammering the baton into her face with the other, but with each connected strike Anders' rage just grew more and more as she changed into the wall, slamming Judy against the concrete and knocking all the wind out of the bunny as she fell to the floor with a pained squeak. The out of breath Anders picked up the baton and raised above her head, ready to smash the bunny's skull in. Then the whistle of a tranq dart echoed through the room, Anders felt a sting in her back before the drugs worked through her bloodstream knocking her out completely, she collapsed on her side with the tranq dart poking out of her spine. The winded Judy looked up to see Nala in the doorway with her tranq pistol in her paws "Bet you're glad I didn't follow your orders for once." The Nala nervously jested, running over to her injured friend.

"We have to evacuate the precinct," Judy choked, looking over at lane 4 "none of us are safe." She then looked at the unconscious traitors and felt only anger, this was not a victory to Judy, this was a defeat.

000

While the battle in the Precinct 1's armoury was raging on, nearly three thousand miles away in New York another battle had just wrapped up. In a luxury skyscraper a very influential wall street accountant was set to have a meeting with the IRS around midday, to give evidence about how a certain insurance group had swindled millions from their share holders, customers and co workers to the tune of over a half a billion dollars. Suffice to say a lot of mammals on wall street did not want this meeting to happen, they wanted the accountant to disappear and all his evidence to be recovered, but there was one problem, or more specifically twenty problems; bodyguards. The accountant was not stupid, he knew that the wall street crooks would send someone to silence him, so he had hired twenty elite bodyguards, all with prestigious records in military service, he had also been clever enough to rent the penthouse of one of the tallest building in the city that was near impossible to infiltrate. But someone had.

It was all over within six minutes, the assassin had the foresight to sever all land lines and plant a signal jammer so that smartphone or radios would be useless. And then one by one, the assassin took out each bodyguard, she killed the first fourteen without making a sound and going unnoticed. But the last six she had to get messy, she enjoyed the messy parts, true it wasn't the best strategy but it was a lot of fun. She would dart around the room like a demon slicing through her enemies like they were blades of grass, tossing shuriken into the heads and hearts of her foes and if a enemy was too troublesome a few shots from her handgun would take care of them. To be good at job one most love their job, and the assassin really did love her occupation.

The accountant, a Llama by the name of David Kuzco, was on the floor of his bedroom, with shuriken impaled into both his wrists and both his ankles so he was stuck to the floor, the shuriken were embedded so that it wouldn't hit any arteries but would still cause a lot of anguish. Kuzco was whimpering as the assassin circled above like a shark around it's prey, twirling her katana in her hand "Pathetic, you weep instead of fighting back, have some god damn respect for yourself." The assassin spoke with a divine French accent, Kuzco looked up at the assassin with watery eyes. She was a white furred rabbit with a slender frame cover by a black sneaking suit that hugged and complimented her heavenly curves, and from the belts and holsters that hung from the suit were daggers, shuriken, a rabbit sized pistol, a few smoke bombs, garrotte wire and the scabbard for her katana. Her mouth and nose were covered by a thin black piece of fabric that was printed with bones of a bunny's skull, atop of her head were a pair of seemingly normal goggles but had many secrets tricks within. But what scared Kuzco the most were her eyes, her pupils were a light brown but when the light hit them they almost seemed golden, and those eyes were filled with joy, she was enjoying making him suffer.

"Who are y-you? Who s-sent you?" Kuzco asked, his voice trembling from the torment he was feeling.

"I am a Ronin and the highest bidder sent me, a lot of mammals want you dead." Ronin revealed, her voice smooth as silk. "But that is not what you should be thinking about."

"What do you m-mean?" Kuzco asked with a sob.

"You know that I'm going to kill you, it's a fact. It's your choice or not whether it's slow and excruciating or quick and painless." Ronin said bluntly, before pointing her sword at a painting of a boat on a lake "So I know you're keeping the evidence against my client in a safe behind that crudely drawn picture, if you give me the combination I can promise a swift and painless end but if you defy me well let's just say I have a vivid imagination and I can think of many ways to make you talk."

All of a sudden the annoying vibrating buzz of a smartphone interrupted the tense moment, Ronin let out a sigh, fetched her phone and saw it was very wealthy contact calling, she looked to Kuzco and said "Excusez-moi, juste une seconde." Ronin then answered her phone "Bonjour, Kirabito tutoring services, how may I help you?"

" _Good Morning Ronin, I'd like to book your services."_ A charming male voice came down the line that the Ronin noticed with ease.

"Kit Cloudkicker, you old bastard." Ronin grinned "It's been years."

" _I'd love to chat but I my boss needs you in Zootopia on urgent business, we have a truant student who needs to be brought to the principal's office."_ Cloudkicker coded the request.

Ronin interpreted the code easily, Cloudkicker wanted someone captured alive and brought to whoever the boss was "And a strapping teacher such as yourself can't reign in such an unruly student?" Ronin enquired teasingly.

" _This pupil is a special case, I'm sending you some photos now."_ Cloudkicker stated.

Ronin's phone beeped, she took the phone away from ear and open the photo files sent over to her, the first image was of Kiara Priderock in combat fatigues, the next one was of a giant white Lioness jumping into the air and the final image was of the same titan lioness lifting a tank over her head. Ronin's grin grew under her mask, this was going to be challenge, and she loved a challenge. She put the phone back to her ear "Oh I see, she's such a disruptive student." She cooed.

" _Me and my employer think your special touch is needed here."_ Cloudkicker persuaded.

"But of course, I'm just finishing up teaching a class in New York, I'll be in Zootopia by tomorrow." Ronin promised, already excited for the next contract. "Au revoir." She added before hanging up. She then stared back at the terrified Kuzco and asked "So what's going to be? Quick death or long death?"

Kuzco was sobbing uncontrollably now, he knew his fate was sealed but he didn't want to suffer "The code to the safe is 05121901." He revealed.

Ronin saw no need to check the code, she knew the terrified Llama was telling the truth. "Merci Beaucoup." Ronin said sweetly before swiftly swiping her katana at Kuzco's neck, severing his head. She then got out her phone and checked the flights to Zootopia and said to herself "Alonzi."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! An assassin is hunting Kiara!? Is the ZPD truly free of the Drowned? How will Nick and Alana handle city hall? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on SOC; the team hunt for the drowned, Ronin eyes her target and the Drowned try to kidnap the rich kids of Zootopia. Please revie and c ya soon.)


	18. Requiem

(AN/Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. Thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. And also a massive thank you to the SOC development team who helped craft this chapter, also a big thanks to zigelzeig who has created his OC Ronin for this fic. So without further ado lets get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 17- Requiem**

Nick had woken up at 5.30 am, as his internal body clock willed him to awake from years of getting up early to head to the precinct, he found the love of his life snoozing on his chest and smiled. When Judy had told him that she and Aleks had fought off the traitorous Corona and Anders he didn't feel any sense of worry, he was still impressed and enamoured that Judy could still fight to the best of her ability even after all the years on the force. Nick also had to begrudgingly admit to himself that it was good that Aleks had been there, he still didn't 100% approve of the young cop dating his daughter but he had proved himself brave by helping Judy.

Judy started to stir awake, she took a big inhale of her mate's scent before saying sleepily "Morning Slick."

"Hey Fluff," Nick replied, stroking Judy's velvety ears "how about we skip work today and spend all day in bed?"

"You've been trying to get me to do that for over fifteen years and every time I give you the same answer; no." Judy answered with a yawn, sitting up in bed and ending the sentence with a peck on Nick's cheek.

"You can't blame me for trying, you're too beautiful to let go of." Nick charmed, pulling Judy into a hug.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, besides it's your first day in city hall, it would look bad if you were late." Judy swayed the conversation, slipping out of the hug, hopping out of the bed and making her way into the en suite bathroom.

Nick looked over at the wardrobe where his best suit was hung, ready for his first day as mayor. He let out a small sigh, he felt nervous about his new post but Zootopia had chosen him as their elected leader, he just prayed he wouldn't let them down.

Fifty or so minutes later later, both Nick and Judy were dressed and ready for their day and enjoying breakfast together, Nick was sipping his first coffee of the day and commented "It's going to feel weird not driving into work together."

"Yeah it is, but it will be nice to walk into work." Judy smiled.

"Yeah but after what happened yesterday, maybe you should get a cab." Nick suggested.

"Nick, I need to show citizens that I'm not afraid, that this is still our city and not The Drowned's, I'm going to walk to the subway, catch the train, then walk the rest of the way to the precinct; Just like when I was a rookie." Judy said with confidence.

"You never change." Nick smiled at his sly bunny "Anyway what's on your schedule today?"

"Me and Skye are going to try and get some answers out of Anders and Maximus, hopefully we can figure out why they turned on the ZPD." Judy answered, sounding irritated "It just doesn't make sense, Maximus was so close to retirement yet he planted a bomb in the station…that's not the Maximus I know."

"You and Skye will figure it out." Nick said, confident in their abilities.

Then out of the hallway, a very sleepy looking Robyn emerged still dressed in her PJs with her eyes barely open "Hey." She spoke groggily.

"Well good morning," Nick laughed at his youngest child's tired expression "you're up earlier than usual."

"I wanted to wish you good luck for your first day." Robyn spoke as if her voice was still powering up for the day.

"Aw, thanks kid." Nick smiled, getting up from the kitchen table and hugging her.

"I don't what a mayor does, but I'm sure you'll kick ass at it." Robyn encouraged, hugging her Dad back.

"Speaking of which, you should get going," Judy said, looking at the time on her phone which read 6.23 am "didn't you say Alana organised a 7am meeting?"

"Yeah, apparently it's meetings all day today…yay for me." Nick responded with sarcasm.

"You'll be fine, you're going to make the world a better place." Judy grinned, trying to psyche up her husband.

"No matter how many times I hear you say that it still sounds cheesy as hell." Nick chuckled, strolling over to Judy and giving her goodbye kiss "I should be home before you, so I'll make dinner."

"Thanks." Judy replied with a small smile.

Nick then went over to the apartment's front door that was linked to the kitchen and opened it, only to find someone waiting for him; it was Ben, the dingo assigned to be his bodyguard dressed in a typical black suit a bodyguard would wear "G'day Mayor Wilde." He greeted warmly.

Nick's face dropped before groaning "Oh it's you. What was your name again? Barry? Bill? Brandon?"

"It's Ben, sir. I'm here to escort you safely to city hall." Ben informed, ignoring Nick's sour mood.

"I can drive by myself, thank you." Nick countered.

"I'm afraid sir that by order of the governor I must escort you to and from work and all business within the city due to the recent Drowned attacks." Ben corrected, producing a letter from the governor and passing it to Nick.

Nick glanced over it and mumbled "Well this is just great."

"Nick, grow up." Judy scolded, going over to him "You're mayor now, this is part of that, Ben's just doing his job."

"Tch, fine." Nick tutted, passing the letter back to Ben before kissing Judy once more "I'll see you tonight, I love you."

"Love you too." Judy replied before shooing Nick out the door "Now come on, you're going to be late."

"Fine, fine." Nick whined, stepping out of the apartment with Judy closing the door behind him.

"Shall we, sir?" Ben motioned towards around the corner where the elevator was.

Nick didn't reply, he just walked with Ben following him closely, when they turned the corner Nick hissed "Damn it, I forgot my car keys, wait by the elevator will ya'? I'll be there in a second"

"No worries." Ben complied, continuing towards the elevator.

Nick gave a sly vulpine grin and made his way back around the corner before strolling past his apartment door and down the stairwell "Dumb Dingo." Nick smirked to himself, fishing out his car keys out of his blazer pocket, he descended the stairs to the underground parking lot and hastily got into his car. Nick was feeling victorious as he started up the engine and exited the parking lot onto the street.

Nick was about to turn on the radio when a familiar voice spoke "Put on the sports station will ya', I want to know if my boys beat the kiwis in the rugby."

Nick's heart leapt out of his chest at the voice, swerving the car in surprise, when he regained control he looked in the backseat to find Ben wearing a perfectly content expression. "How the hell did you get in my car?"

"With these spare keys." Ben answered smugly, jingling some keys in front of Nick.

"Where did you get those!?" Nick barked.

"I asked Judy for them at your victory party, I figured you'd pull a stunt like this. She was more than happy to hand them over." Ben sniggered. "So how about that radio?"

Nick just let out a growl and continued to drive to city hall, leaving the radio off.

Twenty minutes later Nick parked his car in the designated spot marked 'Mayor', him and Ben got out and made the short walk around to the city hall steps. Nick looked up at the hall and felt his stomach doing somersaults much like it did his first day at the ZPD, only this time he wouldn't have Judy with him…he was missing her already.

"You ok sir?" Ben asked after five seconds staring at the building.

"I'm fine Barry." Nick replied, deliberately getting his bodyguard's name wrong. He then made his way up the steps.

"It's Ben." The Dingo replied flatly, following Nick.

As Nick entered the late 19th century building, a few staff members whizzed by saying "Good morning Mayor." Nick politely nodded at them as Ben led him to his new office upstairs, which was right beside the Assistant Mayor's Office and Nick could already hear a formidable voice laying down the law.

Alana Clearwater came charging out her office dressed in a cream coloured Givenchy pant suit with her smart phone pressed to her ear with her voice bellowing "You listen to me asshole; those mammals in the Wave Towns need those food drops by midday and you're going to pay a driver to deliver them or I'm going to tell ZNN how your haulage firm was too cheap to pay someone overtime to deliver food to starving and homeless mammals…oh you suddenly found a driver? How convenient. Deliver the food by midday or you'll be all over the news." Alana then hung up the call with a triumphant look on her face.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself." Nick smiled, looking up at the victorious white tailed deer.

"Immeasurably." Alana replied with a cheeky smile before looking at the time on her phone "Nearly time for our first meeting, is it ok if we hold it in your office?"

"Sure," Nick agreed, walking towards his office with Alana and Ben close behind "so what's the first meeting about?" He opened the door to his office which was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows that gave a great view of the city.

"It's with the head of The Wave remembrance committee, they want to erect a memorial to the victims of the Wave." Alana explained, closing the door behind her and walking in before slumping on one of the comfy armchairs in the office whilst Ben stayed close to Nick.

"Sounds expensive," Nick grimaced, sitting down behind his desk "we should be spending money on rehoming mammals."

Before Alana could reply a loud knock at the door halted her, Nick instinctively said "Come in."

Receiving the cue, the door opened and in stepped in the glamourous Gazelle Jones wearing a beaming smile "Good Morning Nick." She was dressed rather casually compared to her usual outfits, opting for a purple hoodie and jeans.

"Gazelle," Nick replied with surprise in his voice "you're the head of the committee?" Speaking casually with the superstar due to the countless times they met via their children's friendship.

"Si, and have I got some amazing plans to help honour the departed." Gazelle cut to the chase, sitting down in the chair opposite Nick.

"Gazelle you've got realise that we can't just splash some cash on a memorial at the moment, the local government has to help zootopians get back on their feet." Nick tried to defuse Gazelle's excitement.

"But of course, that's why the memorial isn't going to be paid for by tax dollars, me and other celebrities are going to fund it." Gazelle announced with a huge smile.

"Say what now?" Nick asked, arching a eyebrow.

"Me and Wade went to a charity art show not that long ago hosted by Chris Peters, the famous sculptor from Germany, anyway we got talking and he has an amazing plan for the memorial." Gazelle gushed "But it's going to cost money, so that's why me and some other celebs funded this project, we've pooled together over $30 million so far."

"I hate to be a buzz kill but everyone's going to point out that money should've been spent helping the mammals in the Wave Towns." Nick stated the obvious.

"I've already though of that, the night the memorial is unveiled we'll hold a charity auction with all the proceeds going to help Zootopia's most needy I just need your approval. So what do you think?" Gazelle asked with a wide grin.

Nick looked over Alana who was snickering slightly at Nick being bamboozled in his first ever meeting, Nick took a moment before saying "Fine Gazelle, organise it, but don't expect any tax money from me."

000

"All this time and you couldn't find any trace of Kiara!?" Ray Kamino blasted, slamming his fists on the table. The white tiger looking disapprovingly at the two American NSA agents he had been lumbered with; two chipmunks with terrible pun codenames Chip and Dale.

"You couldn't find her either Fly Boy." Chip fired back with a southern drawl, the agent had a weird red nose and goofy teeth.

"I've been to every Camelot safe house within California and the surrounding states looking for her, I've had my paws full." Ray replied bitterly "Why aren't the rest of the Camelot operatives here?"

"No offense Ray but they've got more important things to deal with than a lost team member, you know; terrorist threats, arms dealers and the like." Dale cut down, his voice higher pitched than a normal chipmunk "I'm surprised the higher ups are letting you search for Kiara."

"That's because they know she's alive, she has to be." Ray wished, resisting the urge to take out his phone and look at a picture of her.

"…Listen Ray, we know she's your girlfriend but maybe you should leave this case to us, we've got a clearer head on this." Dale proposed, standing atop the desk in the Canal District safe house.

"Not a chance, if Kiara is out there I'm going to find her." Ray defied.

"But what if Phelps Arms finds her first, or those new superheroes; Ceartais?" Chip asked.

"Ceartais already holds Kiara's brother as a member, I wouldn't be surprised if they're already looking for him." Ray stated "Phelps arms already implanted the same Elixir tech they put in Kiara, I'm shocked they're not trying to grab him back."

"Maybe it's because of his four super powered friends?" Chip asked rhetorically and sarcastically, he knew of the super heroes from the masses of reports he had obtained on the mystery vigilantes.

"Yeah, Cloudkicker could never handle a tough job." Ray jibed picturing the smug bear in his mind.

"Maybe that's why he's brought in the Ronin." Dale revealed.

"Ronin?" Ray gasped, looking shocked "She's in the states?"

"There was a hit on a IRS informant by the name of Cuzco yesterday morning in New York along with all of his bodyguards, the victims were killed with shuriken, garrotte wire and hacked by a very sharp blade; most likely a katana." Dale informed, sounding glum.

"Classic Ronin." Chip added, shaking his head.

"But what makes you think she's heading to Zootopia?" Ray asked, his tone serious.

"We've been monitoring Phelps arms' finances, one of their dummy corporations just paid two hundred grand to a bank account linked to Ronin. If I were a betting mammal I'd say she's been sent to capture Kiara." Chip explained.

"Bloody hell…" Was all Ray could say, even if Kiara was in Elixir mode Ronin would still be a dangerous opponent for the super powered lioness.

"There's one more thing Ray, it's a longshot but there may be lead on Kiara." Dale spoke up, wanting to give the forlorn tiger some hope.

"Huh?" Ray sounded.

"There was this rumour going around about a 'Monster of the Medowlands', most people dismissed it as a dumb urban legend but a week ago this monster literally ripped three Drowned members apart, bottom line is someone was there to get pictures of the Monster." Dale told, pressing a button on his phone causing an image to show up on the TV on the wall showing a giant figure in rags attacking a giraffe, but Ray's eyes went to the tail, it was white as his fur but clearly wasn't a tiger's tail.

"Kiara." Ray muttered.

"BarkFeed published these photos the next day, I think we need to pay them a visit." Chip advised.

000

Kion had always been a morning person and despite his night time occupation as a member of Team Ceartais he didn't really feel tired from his average three hours of sleep a night, he put it down to the elixir system attached to his spine flooding his system with drugs. Kion was sat at the kitchen counter munching on his cereal when Jasiri waltzed in dressed in her convenience store uniform "Morning Kion." She greeted in a chipper voice.

"Hey," Kion smiled back, a little surprised to see her "I thought you had an early shift today?"

"I do but I got to give a new tenant her keys, it was kind of a last minute thing last night, apparently she's really desperate for a place." Jasiri explained quickly, going over to the kettle and flicking it on for her morning fruit tea.

"Hey, I've always wondered something why'd you work at that convenience store when you own this apartment complex? Surely you make enough money off the rents." Kion probed, finishing his breakfast.

"Because I own that too, well fifty percent of it at least, the other half is owned by my big sister Madoa." Jasiri answered, putting a tea bag in her favourite mug.

"You never said you had a sister." Kion replied.

"You never asked." Jasiri parried, adding a hyena laugh at the end that made Kion's heart flutter "She's nearly ten years older than me, she's always been the responsible one while I've been the clown of the family."

"Listen I know this may be a little personal but you seem kind of young to own so much property, I mean you're only a year older than me." Kion said carefully.

"Me and Madoa inherited the properties from our parents when they passed away." Jasiri answered, sounding unfazed by grief.

"Oh god, Jasiri. I'm so sorry, I didn't realise…" Kion babbled, feeling awful for trudging up a painful memory.

"Kion relax," Jasiri calmed her roommate down "it's been nearly two years. I've dealt with it."

"How did it happen?" Kion had to ask.

"A carjacking that went wrong." Jasiri said bluntly, pouring the boiling water into her mug "The bastards that did it got life sentences."

"Jasiri, I'm sorry." Kion sympathised.

"Hey, it's cool. I've moved on, my parents wouldn't want me and Madoa to mourn them forever, sure I miss them but I can't spend my life being some grieving cry baby." Jasiri stated before taking a sip of her fruity tasting tea.

"Well I'm sure your parents would be proud to see you helping the family business." Kion commented, putting his bowl in the sink.

"Ha! If my parents were here they'd be telling me 'Settle down with a nice boy and have some pups like your sister'…they definitely wanted more grandkids." Jasiri smiled wistfully, picturing her parents in her head.

"I'm sure you have no problems attracting a nice hyena, you're really pretty." Kion said, stealing a glance of Jasiri's alluring face.

"I'm not really into hyenas, I'm more of a cat lady." Jasiri flirted with ease, her smouldering eyes looking at Kion with hunger.

Kion's fur stood on end at this sentence, it was conformation that Jasiri was an Inter and even more she liked cats _Is she hitting on me!? No, don't be dumb she's just fooling around, she likes to joke with people_ Kion told himself mentally before replying with a simple but evidently nervous "Oh."

"So what about you? A handsome lion like yourself must be fighting off the girls at school with a stick." Jasiri cooed, playfully running a paw across Kion's muscly arm.

"N-not really, I'm not that popular." Kion responded avoiding the hyena's gaze, his mind racked with nerves.

"I'm going to take a guess here and say you're an inter." Jasiri stated, her silky voice ensnaring Kion.

"Uh, yeah…how'd you know?" Kion asked back, his unease clear in his voice.

Jasiri inched closer to Kion and spoke softly "I've noticed you looking at me and then there was the whole 'Tent pitching' thing."

Kion's brown eyes went wide at the boldness of this statement and immediately garbled "I, uh, well, um…"

Jasiri went to put her paw on Kion's chest, she wanted to grab him by his T-Shirt and pull him into a kiss but the universe wasn't going to allow that. The ringing of Jasiri's smartphone ruined the moment, she out an annoyed snarl before fetching her phone out of her pocket and answering "Outlander properties, Jasiri speaking….oh, you're outside? I'll be right down…have you got much to move in? Ok, give me a second." She then hung up the phone and asked Kion "Can you help me carry a few things from downstairs? It's the new tenant's belongings."

"S-sure." Kion responded, his mind not fully recovered from the previous conversation. The two then went to the main entrance of the complex with an awkward silence hanging over them. When they reached the main entrance and through the glass door they could see a small white furred doe rabbit dressed in a loose fitting hoodie and plaid skirt with a satchel over her shoulder and a bundle of books in her other arm, she was stood beside two suitcases and two trunks.

Jasiri opened the door and warmly welcomed "You must be Miss Kirabito, I'm Jasiri."

"Call me Alice, it's nice to meet you." Alice smiled with a strong French accent, the doe extending her paw for a handshake seemingly forgetting that she was holding some books causing them to spill all over the floor "Zut!" she gasped, crouching down to gather her books.

Jasiri stopped herself laughing at the clumsy bunny and introduced "This is my roommate Kion, he's going to help carry this stuff up to your apartment."

"I don't want to be any trouble." Alice fretted, picking up her books.

"It's no trouble." Kion smiled, picking up the two bunny sized trunks with little effort.

Jasiri took one of Alice's suitcases and led the way to the apartment, while going up the stairs Jasiri asked "So what brings you to Zootopia Alice? I'm sure France is a much nicer place."

"I'm studying American literature at the local university, I'm also a tutor for High School French." Alice explained as they reached the right floor "If you don't mind me saying, your accent isn't American?"

"Well spotted, I'm South African." Jasiri confirmed with a grin, going over to apartment 27 and opening the door to a rather spartan furnished home "Ok so this is your place, I've left contracts for you to sign on the table and here's your keys."

Alice took the keys from Jasiri before reaching into the satchel and producing a thick envelope "And there's my security deposit and first month's rent." Watching Kion carefully place the trunks in the centre of the living room "Thank you for helping."

"No problem." Kion said before looking at the clock in the kitchen "Crud, I'm going to be late for class, see you later." He said before dashing back to his apartment to get his backpack.

"I best be going as well, I'll drop by later to collect those contracts." Jasiri said, heading for the door.

"Of course, see you this evening." Alice bid farewell, waving Jasiri goodbye before closing the door. Alice then set down her satchel and books on the table and went over to one of the trunks and flipped the catches to open it, she lifted the lid and produced a sheathed katana and grinned "Let's have some fun shall we?"

000

Dusk was descending upon Zootopia, mammals were busying themselves with getting home while other went to bars to unwind after a long day at work. But for a grey squirrel by the name of Josh Jenkins his evening was far from relaxing. He was running down back streets and through the alleys of the Meadowlands trying to escape his pursuers, constantly looking over his shoulder, he turned the corner and his whole body was grabbed by a large black paw, he gulped as he saw the mystical vigilante known as The Mage staring at him "Why'd you run from us Josh?" he asked.

"I ain't telling you shit, freak." Josh defied despite being scared stiff.

"I strongly advice you reconsider." Mage threatened, shoving his wand into the squirrel's face.

"What are you going to do? Turn me into a frog?" Josh blustered.

"Oh no, Scarlet's going to use you a punching bag." Mage smirked, nodding behind Josh.

Josh turned his head to see the fearsome red clad vigilante known as The Undying Scarlet had caught up with him "…crap." Josh uttered "I thought you creeps only came out at night."

"We made an exception for you." Scarlet replied, cracking her knuckles.

"A little bird told us you've been passing intel to The Drowned, where do we find them?" Mage asked, squeezing a little tighter.

"I pass all I know through dead drops, I swear!" Josh squeaked.

"Where are these dead drops?" Scarlet growled.

"They text me a location!" Josh panicked.

"Is that so?" Scarlet replied, reaching into Josh's tiny pocket with one claw and retrieving the rodent sized phone "Our friend Spitfire can track your contact's location with this."

"No, they'll kill me if they find out I've turned on them!" Josh stressed.

"You've helped terrorists in exchange for money, it's what you deserve." Mage said with distain.

"Look, hand me over to the cops, if I'm on the streets they'll kill me." Josh pleaded.

"Maybe we can, but first you're going to tell us what you've told The Drowned." Scarlet bargained.

"Fine, they want to know about this gangster, he's shrouded in secrecy but he's dangerous." Josh spilled.

"Dangerous, how?" Mage pressed.

"All the other crime families in Zootopia fear this guy, he's a big deal. Very rich and very influential, The Drowned want him out of the picture." Josh answered, still sounding jittery.

"So The Drowned want to kill this mystery gangster." Scarlet summed up "So where do you fit in?"

"There's a classy burlesque club in the canal district, it's small, only for rodents, this big player came in and bought the place with cash and has set up shop. This guy is a drug lord." Josh answered.

"What kind of drugs are we talking about?" Mage queried.

"Coke, Heroin, Ecstasy, Morrigan, you name it, this guy's got it." Josh elaborated.

"What's the name of this burlesque club?" Scarlet demanded.

"The Rose Thorn." Josh breathed, beyond intimidated.

Suddenly the sound of distant gunshot caught both Scarlet and Mage's attention, then a few seconds later a second shot rang out "That's close, less than half mile away." Mage guessed, before speaking into his comm "Bella come pick us up!"

"It sounds like a rifle, you think it's The Drowned?" Scarlet guessy ed.

"I don't know, but if there's a gunman loose we need to stop them." Mage replied, dropping Josh on the floor and rushing out of the alley with Scarlet close behind.

"Hey what about me!?" Josh yelled.

"Go hand yourself in!" Scarlet hollered back. Bella AKA The Shooting Star appeared at the end of the alley and both heroes quickly clambered in.

000

Alice Kirabito seemed like a friendly and approachable bunny to most folks, her warm and friendly demeanour could charm anyone and her klutz like nature made her seem more cute, even though most mammals knew it wasn't right to call a bunny cute. So when Alice made her way to The Meadowlands and started asking about the supposed 'Monster of The Meadowlands' she spun a yarn about being a French journalist looking into American urban legends. A lot of mammals couldn't help her but when she happened upon a pack of kids who apparently knew where the lair of this beast was she knew she had hit the jackpot, she could see the actual fear in these kids' eyes, they weren't lying. Alice gave each kid $20 for the location of the beast, which they happily told but warned her not to go chasing the Monster, Alice gave an innocent smile to the kids and told them not to worry.

Within 90 minutes Alice had changed into her alter ego; Ronin and was setting up for her assault. She had parked a van meant for a much larger mammal than herself, provided by Phelps arms, on a bridge meant only for City Maintenance workers and began to set up for her hunt. The bridge that the fabled Monster resided under was about five hundred metres away, she used her goggles which had thermal imaging tech to spot a large hot mass sleeping under the bridge, Kiara Priderock was in her sights. She set up a high powered sniper rifle resting on the rail of the bridge along with an open laptop on a small table beside her rife. She typed in a few keys and Mozart's Requiem began to play (AN/ I suggest you listen to Mozart's requiem for this part), she let out a content sigh as the epic piece of music began and went over to her perched rifle and aimed at the large shadowed mass. Her plan was simple; bait Kiara, allow to get closer, then weaken and ensnare her. "Réveillez-vous Kiara." Ronin whispered before pulling the trigger, the shot rang out and the bullet hit Kiara's arm perfectly. A shattering roar louder than the shot tore through the air as the Monster in rags emerged from under the bridge like a demon tearing itself out of the pits of hell. "Salut beauté." Ronin said before firing another shot, this one hitting Kiara square in the chest and pinging off her, Ronin smiled at this and thought _She really is bulletproof, this is going to be fun!_

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" The Monster wailed before galloping towards Ronin at high speed.

"Here, Kitty-kitty." Ronin smirked, pulling the trigger once more with this bullet hitting Kiara right between the eyes, the giant feline let out a cry of pain but kept on thundering towards Ronin. "Just a little closer." Ronin willed, waiting for Kiara to be within 150 metres of her and within a few seconds she was, Ronin then let go of her rifle and hastily typed in a few keys on her laptop causing the side door of her van to open to reveal a remote controlled 50 calibre machine gun which let loose immediately. The quick and powerful shots halted Kiara in her tracks as she came to a slow stop, she tried to fight against the barrage but was failing, Ronin looked on with satisfaction for about a minute as Kiara continued to struggle against the onslaught of large high velocity bullets, Ronin knew the lioness would start to fall unconscious soon and when then that happened she'd throw sleeping gas at her mark, then she'd call Cloudkicker to come retrieve his asset. Kiara continued to roar and snarl loudly as the bullets tore through her rags revealing her enraged face, but she was growing weaker by the second "That's it, go to sleep." Ronin lulled.

All of a sudden the sound of an engine caught Ronin's attention, she to her left to see a pick up truck with a star on the hood racing towards her, a masked wolf in the driver's seat as pointing a wand in her direction, all of a sudden the laptop beside Ronin exploded and the 50 cal machine gun stopped abruptly, causing Ronin to look at Kiara who was now on her knees and panting heavily.

Ronin turned back to the truck and saw three playing cards flying at her, with poise and haste she sliced through each card with her katana in a blink of an eye, each card crackling with a blueish spark of electricity as they were sliced. She then focused on the figures who had emerged from the pick up, a wolf wearing a domino mask and a leather jacket and some weird looking girl shrouded in red. "Don't you know it's rude to crash a party?" Ronin asked glibly.

Mage wasn't concerned with the katana wielding rabbit, he was more worried about the gigantic white lioness rising to her feet "Is that Kiara!?" he gasped.

"Holy shit, it is her!" Scarlet chimed in.

"Ah so I see you know my target, you fans of her?" Ronin asked, wondering which one she'd kill first.

Ronin never got an answer as Kiara gave a shattering Roar before bounding away towards the city "Kiara!" Mage screamed.

"Mage, you go after her, I'll take care of this bunny." Scarlet ordered, getting into a fighting stance.

Mage didn't need telling twice as he hopped back into the truck, "Be careful!" he barked before putting the truck into gear and bolting away leaving Scarlet and Ronin alone.

"You ruined my hunt, girl." Ronin spited pointing her katana directly at her opponent, taking note of Scarlet's youthful voice.

"The name's Scarlet and 'hunting' one of my friends automatically puts you on my shit list." Scarlet tried to intimidate…and failed.

"Sweet girl, you've got to work on your intimidation techniques because right now you wouldn't scare a baby." Ronin sassed.

"Nothing's sweet about me!" Scarlet bellowed before launching herself at the masked bunny.

Ronin smirked under her mask at how easily her opponent got infuriated, she simply sidestepped out of Scarlet's path and plunged her blade into her enemy's abdomen, going straight through her liver. Scarlet didn't give a cry of pain but something akin to choking as she was stabbed, Ronin withdrew her blade and informed harshly "The blood on my blade is nearly black, that's means I hit your liver, you've got about five minutes before you bleed out." She then produced a snow white handkerchief and wiping the blood from her katana, but she was then caught off guard by a vice like grip on her ankle, she didn't have time to react before being tossed into the side of van like a rag doll. Ronin groaned as she slowly got up from the throw, she expected to see an ally of Scarlet but instead only saw the red clad heroine standing before her with the hole in her abdomen closing and healing like some miracle. "Impossible." Ronin panted, feeling bruised all over.

"Maybe I should've told ya' my full name; I am The Undying Scarlet." Scarlet growled, wanting to pummel this bunny until morning.

Ronin shook of her disbelief, she wasn't prepared to lose this fight, she instead smiled "Let's put a test to that title." Before swiftly throwing three shuriken, two hitting Scarlet's in the chest and one piercing her left eye. Scarlet shrilled with agony before Ronin zipped towards her and delivered a punch to her jaw, an action Ronin instantly regretted, it felt like she was punching concrete. Scarlet pulled the shuriken from her eye and dug it into Ronin's shoulder before kicking her away with a powerful kick. Ronin landed atop of the van, briefly moaning with pain before forcing herself to her feet once more, she knew she wasn't equipped to fight this freak of nature right now, she looked on in wonder as the heroine's eye healed like magic, it was time for a tactical retreat "Till we meet again, worthy adversary." Ronin spoke before quickly producing her pistol and shooting Scarlet through both kneecaps causing another scream of anguish, Ronin quickly threw a smoke bomb and vanished from sight only leaving the rage fuelled Scarlet behind.

000

"I'm going to bash that bunny's brains in!" Robyn raged, pacing up and down the observation deck of the bunker. She had arrived back at the bunker along with Kodi after he had lost track of Kiara, all team members were called for an emergency meeting, including Luna.

"Robyn, please." Hannah tried to cool her girlfriend's raging flames.

"Hannah's right, you need to calm down." Luna enforced.

"That demon stabbed me, shot me and threw god damn ninja stars at me, I'm going to knock the teeth out of her skull." Robyn blasted, she was out of her uniform and dressed in her casual attire.

"I'm betting Phelps Arms hired this 'Huntress' to get Kiara back." Olivia assumed.

"But at least we know Kiara is alive, Kodi and Robyn saw her face." Kion tried to put a positive note on circumstances.

"I'm sorry I lost her trail big guy, she was too fast." Kodi apologised, bowing his head slightly.

"I know you tried your best, just to know she's alive is enough." Kion said truthfully, putting his paw on Kodi's shoulder in solidarity.

"So before this whole Samurai and Kiara business, what did you learn from the snitching squirrel?" Marian asked, wanting to get things back on track.

"There's a mob boss that The Drowned want to whack," Kodi informed "some old school drug lord that hangs out a burlesque club for rodents called the Rose Thorn."

Olivia pondered this for second before saying "So if we tail this mobster maybe we can find The Drowned, maybe I should pay this burlesque club a visit."

"What have you got planned?" Robin sr. asked, knowing the mouse's scheming expression instantly.

"Who cares about the gangster!? What about that sword wielding bunny!?" Robyn shouted out loud, making everyone flinch.

"She's probably out of the city by now, let it go." Marian said, sharing a look of concern with her husband.

"Your Nana's right, just forget about her, you're alive and well, that's all that matters." Robin sr. supported his wife's words.

"No, she tried to kill me. I need to bring her down!" Robyn snapped.

"Robyn, calm down." Hannah tried to ease, outstretching her paw to hold her love's hand.

Robyn drew her paw away from Hannah's and bellowed "I'm going to rip her apart!"

Then in a heartbeat, a blur of red fur charged at Robyn and pinned her against the wall of the observation deck, a slender but toned arm was pressed against her throat, she could've easily forced this person off her but when she saw who had pinned her she was too shocked to react. Luna Wilde's face was squared up to Robyn's, her sharp canine teeth bared and she snarled "Listen to them, forget about the samurai!"

For the first time in her life Robyn was scared of her big sister, she had never seen her so angry, Luna's amber eyes were filled with rage, the kind and loving expression she was known was gone replaced with sheer anger. "Lu?" Robyn panted, feeling fear in her bones.

"Luna, let her go!" Marian shouted.

Then as if the 'Off' switch had been flicked in Luna's head she let go of Robyn and her face morphed from rage to despair "…Robbie, I'm s-sorry." She stammered, feeling tears readying themselves to escape her eyes.

Robyn coughed and put a paw to her own throat as she continued to look at her beloved sister with fear and worry, Hannah quickly latched onto Robyn's arm to support her. Robyn didn't know what to feel but her mouth instinctively said "It's ok."

"But it's not! She came back!" Luna cried, burying her face in her paws.

Robin Sr. quickly wrapped his eldest grandchild in a hug and spoke softly "Hush now, it's ok."

"Don't let her come back." Luna sobbed, taking comfort from the hug.

Robyn wanted to go over and hug her sister as well, but too many questions hung in the air; Why did she get so angry? Why did she try to choke Robyn? And most cryptically who was this 'She'?

000

It was close to midnight in Tundra Town and Bunga, one of the leaders of The Drowned was laying in wait along with ten of his best troops. They were sat in the back of a delivery truck outside a cinema waiting for their target to appear; Judy Big. His sources told him that the seventeen year old arctic shrew was attending a screening of the latest summer blockbuster with her friends from school. Bunga looked at his watch, 11.56pm, the movie was due to end in five minutes. That's when Judy Big would leave the theatre and go to the limo waiting outside the main entrance. Bunga eyed the limo, it was an old model, at least fifteen years old, it'd be no use in the speed department but these old limos were built like tanks, they could take a lot of damage. But he wasn't trying to kill Judy, he wanted to capture her alive and bring her to Fuli, all he needed to do was take out the driver; a sharp dressed Fennec fox in his fifties who was currently smoking a cigarette whilst leaning against the side of the limo.

 _This is going to be easy_ Bunga thought, not knowing how wrong he was.

000

A loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning woke Aleks Rojek up with a start, he shot up in bed with shock before realising it was just a storm, he chastised himself mentally before noticing Luna was not in the bed. "Luna." Aleks called out, assuming she had gone to the bathroom but he spotted that the en suite bathroom's lights were off. Aleks got of bed and called out again "Luna?" but got no answer, he then thought about how quiet Luna had been all night, she seemed distant and upset about something, when he had asked her about it she just brushed it off as a bad day at work.

He walked out of the bedroom and down the dark hallway into the living room that's when he spotted Luna, she was on the penthouse balcony in her nightgown staring up at the sky while a thunderstorm raged around her. "Luna!" Aleks barked, rushing out onto the balcony, he got in front of Luna and put both paws on her shoulders, he looked at her amber eyes and was filled with worry, they were glazed over as if she was sleep walking or a trance "Luna, ukochana. You ok?" Aleks asked, his mind burning with concern as he was soaked by the torrential rain.

"She came back, she hurt Robbie." Luna uttered, her fur soaked and her eyes focusing on the storm.

"What? Who hurt your sister?" Aleks asked quickly, wondering if she was having some weird dream.

"Andraste." Luna answered, the name was actually painful to say.

Before Aleks could ask anything more the unmistakeable sound of a gunshot echoed from below, on impulse both Aleks and Luna went to the edge of the balcony and looked down below to see a dozen or so mammals forcing their way through the building's entrance armed with assault rifles. "We need to call the ZPD!" Aleks said instantly.

"No, they'll take too long." The Vixen replied in an angry voice "We'll take care of them." She looked at the invaders not with eyes of Luna Wilde but as Andraste.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The Drowned are going after Luna and Little Judy!? Will Finnick survive? Will Robyn and Ronin cross paths again!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on SOC...um you know what no spoliers this week, please review and c ya soon...)


	19. Blood and Thunder

(AN/ Hey guys it's Garouge/Chapter here with a fresh chapter of Star of Ceartais. A massive thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter and big thanks to the SOC Dev Team who helped craft this chapter especially Aussie who beta'd this chapter. So without further ado lets get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 18- Blood and Thunder**

"Andraste." Luna answered, the name being physically and emotionally painful to say.

Before Aleks could ask anything more, the unmistakeable sound of a gunshot echoed from below. On impulse, both Aleks and Luna went to the edge of the balcony and looked down below to see a dozen or so mammals forcing their way through the building's entrance armed with assault rifles. "We need to call the ZPD!" Aleks said instantly.

"No, they'll take too long." The Vixen replied in an angry voice "We'll take care of them." She looked at the invaders not with eyes of Luna Wilde, but as Andraste.

"Wait, what? We? Luna, you need to hide, I'm the only one trained to deal with this." Aleks said in an alarmed manner, speaking loudly over the rumble of thunder

Luna marched back into penthouse with Aleks on her tail. She went over to the closet near the elevator where the jackets and shoes were usually stored, opened it, moved aside the coats on hangers, then pressed a pressure-sensitive wooden panel. The rear end of the cupboard flipped around, revealing a CCTV monitor showing the lobby downstairs; The concierge sprawled on the ground having been knocked out. There were also twelve mammals with guns with one jackal shooting the lock off the spare key cabinet behind the counter and immediately selecting the spare penthouse key. "It's The Drowned," Luna said with hatred, noticing the armbands they were sporting, with their grim logo "they're coming for me." She then hit a button at the side of the monitor with the acronym S.O.S, it flashed red for a second before turning off.

Aleks's mind was a mess and yet he still tried to vocalize his confusion "Since when was this screen here!? Why are The Drowned after you!? What does that button do? Listen we need to call the cops!" He insisted.

Luna took a firm grip of Alek's paw and said with force "We have about 90 seconds before they get up here, I need you to trust me, you can ask questions later but right now I need you to shut up and follow my orders."

Aleks saw a seriousness in Luna's amber eyes that he had never seen before, usually they were so gentle-looking, but now they were fierce with no hint of nerves… _She's been in this situation before_ Aleks realised. He felt lost and afraid but he also felt an overwhelming need to protect Luna. He buried his confusion deep and put his faith in the vixen he loved "What do you need me to do?" Aleks asked, putting on his game face.

Luna flicked the fuse box in the closet, plunging the penthouse into darkness before racing back to the bedroom while asking "Can you shoot in the dark?"

"I'm a fox, of course I can." Aleks replied, easily navigating his way through the blackened room and to the safe on his side of the bed, where he kept his handgun. The typed in the code and retrieved the gun along with three magazines of ammo, while Luna pushed the bed to the other side of the room with speed. The vixen crouched down to the carpet quickly and felt around for a hidden catch, she found it within seconds and pulled it up to reveal a hidden compartment, in which the contents made Alek's jaw physically drop. There was a high-tech bow with a quiver of oddly shaped and coloured arrows, which looked they had been pulled straight out of a comic book along with an array of daggers, stun grenades and mace spray cans. Luna passed a dagger to Aleks with the instruction "If you get close enough to one stab it in their shoulder, they'll drop their gun."

"Right." Was all Aleks could muster as he took the dagger, before watching Luna slip the quiver's strap over her head and pulling out a taser arrow. A flash of lightening illuminated the room for a second and Aleks could clearly see the fire in Luna's eyes

"These assholes look like amateurs, they'll spray and pray if we fire a shot at them. We'll spread ourselves behind decent cover and when they reload, we'll start taking them out." Luna strategized, while the thunder echoed around them like the drums of war. The two foxes then slinked back to the main living room of the penthouse to await The Drowned's arrival.

It took them 93 seconds to reach the penthouse, Luna had been off by three seconds. The twelve gun-wielding mammals bundled out of the elevator. The head of the pack, a female skunk, flicked the light switch and when nothing happened she grumbled "The lights are out, never a good sign."

"Maybe it was the storm." A Jumpy Sea Otter guessed.

"The lights were on in the lobby, this is on purpose." The Skunk shot down before saying out loud "Listen Luna, if you don't want your boyfriend's death to be on your head, step out and surrender and I swear we'll leave him alone."

Luna, who was concealed behind a mahogany book case crammed with books, peeked out unnoticed by The Drowned and asked brusquely "Why are you here?"

"You are product of everything The Drowned is against, you live in absolute comfort, have millions hoarded away and you advertise your wealth without shame." The Skunk monologued with spite in her voice "It's money that your mother Victoria Todd lied, cheated and scammed her way to claim not caring who was left penniless in her way."

Aleks who was on the other side of the room behind the black marble base of a modern art sculpture looked over at his girlfriend with his excellent night vision and saw the fire in her eyes grow into an inferno, her teeth were bared and the fur of her brush was up. Luna then growled "You've made two mistakes Skunk, one; never stand out in the open."

"And the other." The Skunk scoffed, unstartled by the growl and the threat.

"Never bad-mouth my Mommy, you fucking bitch!" Her voice howled in the darkness before the Skunk was hit in the chest with the taser arrow, the Skunk let out a yell that was lost to the sound of thunder before falling to the ground.

As predicted, the eleven other cultists reacted by firing wildly and blindly, the wave of bullets tearing through the furniture, photos and artwork that graced the living room's penthouse. The room was filled by the ear-splitting sound of gunfire while the air was cloaked with arid smell of gun smoke. For ten or so seconds, this barrage continued until their magazines ran dry. Luna and Aleks didn't need to signal each other, they both sprung from their hiding spots and launched their counter attack; Luna bounded over the ruined sofa with a flip and shot a tranquilizer arrow while in mid-air, the arrow finding it's mark in the gut of a wolf. Aleks charged at his closest target, an Alpaca who was ready to swing his empty gun at Aleks, the silver fox anticipated this and dropped feet-first between the Alpaca's lanky legs firing two shots; one hitting him in the heart and the other in the crotch. Aleks then moved straight onto his next target, shooting a Hare in the head as rose to his feet. Luna swiftly jabbed another arrow into a Coati's back before pulling it out and firing it in the shoulder of a Civet who was fumbling with his ammo pack. The Vixen then heard a rifle click with the sound of a fresh mag being reloaded. In the corner of her eye she saw an Aardvark levelling her gun on her. Luna swung her bow, breaking the Aardvark's long nose, which caused her to let the rifle fall to the floor. The archer then let loose a taser arrow into the Aardvark's leg to knock her out. Aleks then came tumbling down beside the electrified Aardvark from a hit caused by a butt of a Lynx's gun. Aleks ignored the pain in his jaw and immediately spotted the assault rifle on the ground next to him, he picked up the rifle and shot the Lynx twice in the chest before shooting two more Drowned in the head who were struggling to reload their weapons, before being jumped on by a fat Capybara who was trying to wrestle the gun out of Aleks' grasp.

"Aleks!" Luna barked with worry, aiming an arrow at the Cabybara who had tackled her boyfriend. She was interrupted when she picked up by a Ram and tossed out the open balcony door and into the raging storm, the Ram charged at her with his head bowed and horns aimed at her. Luna let her instincts take over as her paw reached for another arrow, moved ever so slightly to the left and when the Ram was just passing her she jabbed the arrow into the throat of the sheep. It crashed against the railings of the balcony and in a blind panic rose to its feet and gargled on his blood as he tried to remove the arrow from his throat. Luna sneered "Let me help you with that." Before yanking it out of the Ram's throat and pushing him over the edge of the balcony, sending him hurtling the street below. Luna didn't bother to look, she just grabbed a fresh tranquiliser arrow and shot it at the Capybara who was still wrestling with Aleks… All twelve Drowned cultists were now taken care of.

Aleks rolled the now unconscious Capybara off of him and winced as he got to his feet, his eyes watching Luna as she re-entered the penthouse. Her expression of fiery rage was now cooling to a look of indifference "Seven dead, five unconscious. Hopefully the tranquiliser arrow and the taser will make their head hazy about the details." She spoke, walking past Aleks to the fuse box and switching the lights back on.

"Luna…what the hell just happened?" Aleks asked, out of breath from the fight.

"We won." Luna answered before looking at the balcony and saying, "She should be here soon."

"Who?" Aleks asked again, he had a feeling he'd be asking a lot of questions tonight.

"The person we're going to tell the police helped you fight off The Drowned." Luna answered, closing the secret panel in the closet.

"You're not making any sense." Aleks stressed, putting the safety on the assault rifle he was holding.

"Ah, right on time." Luna said, ignoring Aleks' confusion and instead focusing on the balcony, where the sound of micro jet engines caught both foxes' attention. Spitfire landed on the balcony and rushed into the living room of the penthouse, Aleks was left gobsmacked while Luna walked straight over to the mechanized super hero.

"Oh my god, Luna, Aleks, are you ok?! I got your S.O.S and I feared the worst." Spitfire asked in it's very odd, robotic voice.

"We're fine but we need to get this place looking like you helped Aleks and not me." Luna voiced her plan, pulling the arrows out of the drowned and putting them back in her quiver.

Aleks rushed over to Luna's side and yelled "You know Spitfire!?"

Luna let out a heavy sigh before saying "You best show him who you are or he's not going to trust you."

Spitfire hesitated for a second but soon enough the chest cavity of the mech opened up to reveal Olivia in her jumpsuit, sitting in the cockpit. She let out a meek "Surprise."

Aleks was struggling to process everything and was about to start a torrent of questions, but the sound of approaching police sirens stopped him, he instead mumbled "The neighbours must've called the police."

"Then we haven't got much time," Luna stated, taking off her quiver and handing it and her bow to Spitfire "Hide these on the roof, and give me five of your tranq darts."

Olivia nodded and grinned "I see what you're planning." Before closing the mechanised chest cavity and returning to the synthesised voice "But what are you going to tell cops you were doing?"

"I'm going to be the damsel in distress." Luna answered, hugging onto Aleks' arm.

000

Finnick took comfort from the cigarette he was smoking, he considered tobacco his only vice and he was down to only five a day, a lot less from the height of his forty a day habit in his early twenties. But now the Fennec had just hit 51 last week and he knew he had to start taking care of himself more. He looked up at the snow falling lightly around him as he leant against his limo with a smile, for a mammal who had evolved to live in a desert environment, he spent most of his time in Tundra Town. Hell, years ago when he was doing the pawpsicle hustle with Nick, he'd visit the borough for least an hour a day and now as the Big family's head of security, where he spent most of his life in the chilly corner of the city. He actually loved his job; even after Fru Fru Big legitimised all of the family empire's holdings, the Bigs were still left with a lot of enemies in Zootopia and beyond. Finnick was always prepared to give his all to protect the Big family, which had done on more than a dozen occasions. Fru Fru never made Finnick feel like he was an employee, she made him feel like he was part of the family and wanted him to be happy, even to the point where she introduced Finnick to a beautiful and single Fennec Vixen named Sabrina. Finnick's mind pictured the beauty he had been courting for just over a year before taking another drag of his cigarette, Sabrina was fiery and fierce like himself. When her ex-husband left her, she worked her claws to the bone to make sure her kits were fed, sheltered and educated, and she spoke her mind. If you crossed her then you would come to regret it… Finnick was head over heels in love with her to say the least. Him and Sabrina shared the same age and had both lived a life of hardship and heartache before meeting each other, but when Finnick had finished his first conversation with enchanting desert vixen, he knew that he wanted to be worthy of being loved by her. Luckily for Finnick, the two fennecs' personalities clicked together perfectly and they began to date, Finnick got on with Sabrina's children who were both in their early twenties. He doted upon her two-year-old granddaughter, whom adored her 'Grandpa' Finnick. Life was good for him, but right now Finnick had a feeling in his gut that shit was about to hit the fan.

Finnick was acting casual as he smoked his cigarette whilst against his limo as he was assessing the area. The limo was parked right outside the movie theatre and from the glass door's reflection, he could see a black parcel delivery truck parked across the street, this got his alarm bells ringing for multiple reasons; 1. This wasn't a residential area so why would parcels need to be delivered here. 2. The company would never leave a van parked on the streets overnight, it would go to a depot yard. 3. The van looked like it hadn't been washed in months, these big companies always made sure their vehicles were spotless. Finnick stubbed out his cigarette on the snow-covered pavement and rallied himself "Just protect Lil' Judy." Already planning various strategies in his head.

"Uncle Finnick." A happy and high-pitched voice made itself known.

Finnick looked up to see the seventeen-year-old Lil' Judy Big, walking out of the cinema with her two closest friends; Steph, a reindeer and Bethany, a Polar Bear while other movie goers exited along with them. "Hey Girls, how was the movie?" Finnick acted natural despite keeping a close eye on the van parked across the street.

"It was amazing!" Steph gushed.

"Yeah but Judy cried at the end." Bethany grinned.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't blab!" The small shrew shrilled which caused a response of chuckles from her two friends.

"Do you girls need a ride home?" Finnick offered, motioning towards the limo.

"No thanks Finnick, I just got my licence and I live right by Beth's place." Steph said proudly.

"Ok, I'll see you on Monday at school." Lil' Judy smiled and waved off as her friends headed towards the parking lot along with most of the other cinema patrons.

Finnick caught a glance at the van across the street, sure that he saw a shadow in the rear window, before saying firmly "C'mon Judy, let's get you home."

Judy noticed her bodyguard's nervy demeanour and asked "Uncle Finnick, you ok?"

"It's nothing, just me being para-" Finnick started before seeing the back doors of the van burst open with weapon wielding mammals pouring out, one of them immediately shooting out the right front tire of the limo "Shit!" he cursed before scooping Lil' Judy before bolting into the cinema foyer where staff members were diving for cover from the gun shots zipping into the building and shattering the glass. Finnick eyed the two counters, one for small mammals and one for large, he vaulted over the small one and put his strategy into action. "Judy, you've got to trust me!" He insisted, as he pressed a button to open the cash register.

"Finnick, what's going on!?" She shrieked.

"Stay hidden." He instructed, placing the small shrew easily in register before closing it, shielding her from the carnage that was about to ensue; Finnick spied a Coyote wearing a Drowned armband coming straight at him waving a baseball bat, the desert fox didn't have time to pull out his gun from his jacket, instead he grabbed the nearest thing to him; one of the fry buckets for the onion rings the cinema sold, he hurled the bubbling and spitting fluid at the Coyote's face causing him to drop his bat and scream in sheer agony as the searing 325 degree Fahrenheit cooking oil melted away both his fur and skin. Finnick left the Coyote shrieking as he ran around the counter, while producing his handgun and picking up the baseball bat the cultist dropped, as soon his right paw gripped the bat he gave a quiet, yet smug "Oh yeah."

Finnick immediately leapt into action, zipping towards a Wildcat who was too dumb to realise he left the safety on his assault rifle, where Finnick smashed the baseball bat into Wildcat's left kneecap, causing the cat to wail as he fell to the floor. Finnick then got out his pistol and put a bullet in the feline's brain. "Little turd!" A voice hollered, the bodyguard eyed where the voice had come from, a Donkey was storming towards him with a hoof already pulled back ready to slam it down into the much shorter mammal, Finnick just smirked at the Donkey's stupidity whilst firing two shots into cultist's chest.

"Retreat!" A voice commanded loudly, Finnick's vision snapped to the street outside where a male honey badger in grey robes was beckoning the remaining Drowned members back into the van.

Finnick shot a fleeing female Wildebeest in the leg as it tried to run out of the cinema, the rest of The Drowned had got back into their van and tore down the street leaving the wounded Wildebeest to her fate. Finnick slowly walked over the Wildebeest as she tried to crawl away from the fearsome fennec, he struck the injured cultist in the spine causing her to scream and whimper. The desert fox then walked around to her head and asked with disgust "Why do the Drowned want Judy Big dead?"

The Wildebeest peered into the eyes of the mammal who was going to kill her and spoke eerily "It's the Wave's will."

Finnick knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer from the cultist but he could satisfy his thirst for vengeance, these guys tried to kill Lil' Judy. At the moment, there was no mercy for this twisted mind. Finnick rose his bat and brought it down with wrath upon the Wildebeest's head, taking a small bit of pleasure in hearing the cultist's skull break.

000

Aleks considered himself a level-headed mammal, it was a good quality to have when you were a SWAT officer, but right now his mind was being pushed to it limits. He had just given a false statement to his fellow officers on how he and Spitfire defended Luna against the Drowned while the penthouse was swarmed by cops and forensic teams. Luna had given her best damsel in distress act and was able to produce tears in a heartbeat, for someone who was apparently bad at lying Luna was mysteriously good at this pantomime. Part of Aleks wanted to take Luna into another room and demand answers but he knew that would just raise suspicion, for now he would just have to wait and trust that Luna would confide in him. Most cops in the room were looking at Spitfire with suspicion, all of them knowing that they should be arresting the mech for vigilantism, but there were two obstacles; Spitfire had just saved the daughter of both Chief Wilde and the Mayor and secondly, none of them sure it was legal to arrest a Robot.

Aleks looked over at precinct 1's head CSI and felt his paw pads sweat a little, Basil Dawson was the most gifted forensic scientist to have ever worked with the ZPD. He was well known for walking into a crime scene and within in a minute he could solve a case that mammalcide detectives would take weeks to crack. Basil would usually vocalize each step of the crime but for now he was being quiet and had a thoughtful look on his face which only caused Aleks to worry more. But before he could dwell on it any longer the elevator door pinged and it slid open to reveal Nick, Judy and Robyn who came rushing out and straight towards Luna. "Sweetie!" Judy crowed, throwing her arms around her eldest daughter.

"Mom." Luna fake cried convincingly, as Nick and Robyn joined the group hug.

"Are you ok!?" Judy panted, pulling back from the hug and looking Luna up and down to check for injuries, Luna had gotten changed out of her nightgown and into some comfy sweat pants and a t shirt.

"I'm ok…thanks to Aleks and Spitfire." Luna sniffed, wiping away some tears.

Aleks noticed Robyn and Spitfire share a nod, the fifteen-year-old hybrid didn't look shocked to see the vigilante, causing Aleks to mentally conclude _She's in on this too!?_ But neither Nick or Judy noticed this they were too focused on Luna. "You had me worried there, kiddo." Nick choked, it was clear he had been crying with worry, kissing Luna on the cheek.

Judy and Nick then turned to Aleks who had been silent since their entrance and did something that shocked the silver fox, they both pulled him into a hug causing the rookie cop to tense up and mumble in astonishment "Nick, Judy?"

"Thank God you were here, bless you Aleks, bless you." Judy expressed.

"Thank you Aleks, I mean it." Nick enforced, hugging tightly.

Aleks looked at Luna and replied with absolute honesty "I love Luna, I'd do anything to keep her safe."

Nick and Judy ended the hug and Aleks got a playful punch in the arm from Robyn as she grinned "Looks like the old man is finally starting to warm up to ya'."

"I guess." Aleks said awkwardly, rubbing his sore arm, he hadn't expected Robyn's punch to be that hard.

Judy then walked over to the sentinel-like Spitfire, the bunny seemed unintimidated by the massive mech, she then asked in a serious manner "You're aware that vigilantism is a crime?"

"I am well aware of the law." Spitfire responded.

"By all rights I should arrest you for all your past crimes… However, that isn't going to happen, at least not tonight." Judy stated, crossing her paws over her chest "Now I'm going to go speak to my detectives and when I get back you best be gone, do we understand one another"?

"Perfectly." Spitfire replied, before turning to head onto the balcony.

"Spitfire," Nick spoke up, causing the mech to look back "Thank you."

"Your welcome Mayor." Spitfire said as she walked out onto the balcony and blasted off into the stormy skies.

Whilst Judy was busy with her detectives, Nick had informed Luna and Aleks that there had been an attempted kidnap of Lil' Judy Big at around the same time the Drowned attacked the penthouse. Luna relayed that the Drowned were after her because of her birth mother; Victoria. Nick and Robyn comforted Luna the best they could, whilst Aleks looked on in a daze, wondering when this charade would end. Judy walked back to her family and said to Aleks and Luna "Ok, we've got all the info we need from you tonight, you guys are welcome to stay at our place until the penthouse gets repaired."

"It's okay Mom, Olivia's got a property near Dawson tech, she's letting us crash there." Luna informed, much to the surprise of Aleks who had no idea what his girlfriend was talking about.

"Well can I ask you guys a favour?" Nick opened "Can you take Robyn with you? Just for tonight? Me and your Mom have to do press conferences and other stuff over the next few hours and I don't want Robyn home alone with all that's happened."

"Of course." Luna agreed.

After ten minutes Aleks and Luna had packed a few clothes and toiletries, said their goodbyes to Nick and Judy before getting into the elevator with Robyn. As soon as the door closed, Robyn asked "We're going to the Bunker, aren't we?"

"Yes." Luna answered, ditching her damsel act.,

"So, I was right. You _do_ know about all this craziness." Aleks said to Robyn.

"You have no idea." Robyn sighed.

"So, are you finally going to tell me what the hell is going on?" Aleks asked angrily to his girlfriend.

"I am, but first we're going to need one thing if we're going to be talking about serious stuff." Luna replied.

"And that is?" Aleks pressed.

"Fried chicken." The Wilde sisters replied in unison.

000

It had been a bad night for the Drowned; two failed kidnaps with over a dozen members captured or killed. The only successful operation of the night was the nabbing of Samson Misdadd, but that victory felt hollow, Fuli wanted all three corrupted children, not one. Fuli would wait until two more unworthy mammals came along and then she would serve up the Wave's justice, her killing spree began with three and that's how it was going to continue. She had just finished her debriefing with Bunga and Beshtem, when a scout from Sahara Square said they had spotted something strange in the Warehouse district, describing what they had saw. Fuli insisted on dealing with this on her own.

She stood outside the warehouse's large open doors as the thunderstorm and torrential rain enveloped most of the city. Fuli was quite fond of storms, she had been even before the Wave had changed her life. However, the occupant of the warehouse seemed afraid of the storm. With each flash of lightning, Fuli could see a giant figure in the corner, cowering in fear and covering her ears to block out the rumble of thunder.

Fuli was surprised that the monster of the meadowlands could be so easily scared by the weather, the giant white lioness looked confused and broken, this gave Fuli joy because it was easier to shape a broken mind than a whole one. Fuli slowly and carefully walked into the warehouse with arms held high to show she had no weapons "Hello." She said kindly.

"G-go…away." Kiara sobbed, the lioness trembling with fear.

"It's okay… Oh you poor thing, are you lost?" Fuli asked as if she was speaking to a toddler.

"…I…I am." Kiara cried, rocking back and forth "That bunny tried to k-kill me."

"Oh dear," Fuli cooed, stepping closer to Kiara "Well don't you worry, my friends and I are going to make sure you're safe."

"R-really?" Kiara's voice trembled, her watery blue eyes looking down at the cheetah, who seemed tiny in comparison.

"Of course," Fuli promised, confidently putting her paw on Kiara's leg "We're going to protect you, you'll be our champion."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The Drowned have Kiara!? Please please please review! Next time on Star of Ceartias; Aleks is brought to the Bunker and we finally learn why Luna quit being a hero...And you won't have to wait long cos as a extra special treat I plan to release the following chapter on Monday! Please Review and c ya soon... )


	20. Salut D'Amour

(AN/ Here we go, it's time to learn Luna's secret...)

 **Chapter 19- Salut d'amour**

On the drive over to the bunker Robyn explained that she was in fact the super heroine 'The Undying Scarlet' to the astonished Aleks. She gave him a brief explanation of how she got her powers and what her actual abilities were and despite hearing some unbelievable Aleks had no doubt that he was hearing the truth, he had already seen the vixen he loved ferociously take out The Drowned tonight, she even went as far to kill one of them so hearing that Robyn was a super hero wasn't too far fetched. Aleks voiced his wanting to know who the rest of the team were but Luna pointed out that it was not their secret to tell. Luna of course pulled into a KFC drive through and ordered a ten piece bucket and three milkshakes before driving onwards to the Bunker.

Aleks looked on in amazement as they entered down the hidden ramp and spiralling driveway down into the heart of the bunker. The two foxes and one hybrid got out of the Bugatti with Alek's eyes soaking in every detail of the high tech underground base. Luna spied up to the observation deck and could see no one attending the monitors "Hood and Maid aren't here?" Luna wondered out loud, holding onto the bucket of chicken.

"We all decided to take the night off after what happened earlier." Robyn answered, sounding awkward.

The memory of Luna pinning Robyn by the throat flickered through the young doctor's mind before saying sincerely "I'm sorry Robbie."

"It's fine, really." Robyn tried to ease.

"What happened?" Aleks queried, noting the guilty look in Luna's eyes.

"Nothing." Robyn ended, not wanting to shame her sister.

Luna then took a deep breath before suggesting "We best go into the Armoury, it seems fitting to talk about it next to my old uniform."

"Uniform…" Aleks uttered, he was about to ask why she had a uniform but didn't bother, he wanted answers. Luna and Robyn led Aleks into the main corridor and into the armoury, the silver fox gasped slightly as he saw the vast array of weapons hung on the walls, he then watched as Luna walked up to a glass case. In the case was a mannequin wearing what looked to be an emerald green leather bodice, matching tight fitting trousers, gold plated gauntlets and a yellow hat with a large red feather decorating it.

"I felt so proud when I first put this on, now I keep it here to remind me of how bad I messed up." Luna sighed, before putting the bucket of fried chicken on a nearby workbench "I never deserved the title of hero."

"You used to be a vigilante?" Aleks had already assumed this, but he wanted conformation.

"Yes, I was Andraste, named after the celt goddess of the hunt and war. I first put this uniform on a few weeks after my sixteenth birthday, two years later I promised myself I'd never wear it again." Luna recalled with sorrow, grabbing a piece of chicken and began to chew at it, she was a comfort eater.

"Are you finally going to tell me why you quit?" Robyn asked, looking at Luna with worry.

Luna swallowed her food before answering "I am but you're not going to like what you hear."

"Probably not but we need to know and I think you need to get it off your chest." Robyn said in a understanding voice, taking a drumstick from the bucket.

"Wait I need to know something first," Aleks spoke up "how did you get involved in heroism?"

"You could say it's the family business." Luna answered, taking another bite of the chicken.

"Hold on, Nick and Judy were vigilantes!?" Aleks asked, completely flabbergasted.

"What? No." Robyn scoffed "Our Nana and Grandad used to play dress up and beat up bad guys."

"Robin and Marian? But I met them the other night at the victory party they seemed…." Aleks trailed off, his head beginning to hurt.

"Like normal mammals, like I'm a normal surgeon and Robbie is a normal high schooler." Luna finished Aleks' sentence before adding "They may not look like it now but they were once two members of the most infamous group of vigilantes ever; The M.M gang."

"I thought they were all dead." Aleks mumbled.

"Only one of them is gone." Luna lamented, looking at Little's John's uniform "Anyway my grandparents saw the potential in me and Olivia and trained us to fight crime. For two years we were an unstoppable force, the crime rate dropped at least 40% with us around…but I had a problem."

"Your anger?" Robyn guessed.

"Yeah," Luna admitted "I was getting too lost in my second life, the only time I truly felt alive was when I was wearing my uniform and beating the snot out of bad guys. Everyone who knew my secret started to notice I was losing control, it had been building for about six months when it all came to a head."

Aleks could see the pain in his belle's eyes, he walked over and took hold of her spare paw then assured "It's ok, you can tell us."

"One day a story comes up on a news about a Binturong named Wayland Chen, he was a business man caught by the MCB laundering drug money through the fine art auction houses all across Zootopia for years." Luna began to explain "When the case went to trial Chen's lawyers produced documents that implicated that someone else was behind the money laundering and Chen was just a fall guy. The mammal they blamed for everything couldn't defend herself because she was already dead for twelve years."

Robyn actually gasped, realising what the next piece of the puzzle was, "Lu…" Robyn sympathised.

"Victoria Todd…my birth mother." Luna said in a steely voice "They accused her of being the mastermind of the operation, laundering millions all the way until a few weeks before she died. The worst thing was that jury believed the fabricated evidence, Chen was acquitted. Suffice to say, I was not satisfied with the result…I did something I can never forgive myself for."

Aleks gripped Luna's paw a little tighter and gently urged "Tell us."

 **FOUR YEARS AGO…**

Andraste stormed out the Bunker's elevator with Spitfire beside her already in mid argument "…You let that piece of shit get away!? You could've taken him!" Andraste shrilled.

"He had his wife in the car, she's innocent in all of this!" Spitfire argued, heading to armoury to dock the mech.

"Oh likely story, she's probably in on it too." Andraste parried following Spitfire "You should've shot their tyres, then we could've beat the truth out of them."

"A confession from a beating won't clear Miss Todd's name." Spitfire stated, unable to shake the habit of using Miss Todd instead of Victoria. Spitfire stepped into the docking terminal for her mech, once it was attached, the chest cavity opened and Olivia stood up from her seat and continued her point "Your mother wouldn't want you to act like this."

"Don't you dare tell me what my mother would've wanted, I knew her better than anyone!" Andraste snapped taking off her domino mask and tossing it aside.

"Look we need to be smart about this, we need to trust Marian to get us the evidence we need." Olivia underlined, climbing down the purpose built ladder from the docking terminal to the work table.

"We need to punish Chen, that's what Team Ceartais is about; Punishing Criminals." Luna growled, hanging her bow up on her wall of weapons.

"Team Ceartais is about justice not punishment." A stern voice cut in, the two teen heroes turned to see their three mentors walking through the doorway; Marian, Robin Senior and Little John "If you punish criminals without the courts you are no better than the M.M gang." Marian reminded, glaring at her eldest granddaughter.

"They tried to lock Chen up through the justice system and looked what happened." Luna replied bitterly "Even if we could get evidence against Chen you can't try someone for the same crime twice."

"Then some fresh charges of perjury, fraud and misleading a federal investigation would be brought against him." Robin tried to calm both fire furred vixens "Now why don't we have a nice cup of tea and plan our next move."

"Is that your answer to everything? Tea!?" Luna scolded her grandad "We all know that Chen has fifteen armed assholes on his payroll, if you're an innocent man you don't have that many heavies protecting you."

"We're not saying Chen is innocent, we know he's rotten to the core." Little John interjected "But patience may be a virtue on this one, trust in Marian to get the evidence we need."

"Oh, so all of you are ganging up on me now?" Luna accused "This is my mother we're talking about. The media are painting her as some money grubbing monster and you expect me to just take it laying down?"

"Luna I lost my both parents at the same age you did, I let my rage consume me and look what I became…Don't make the same mistakes as me." Marian advised with force.

"Proving my mother's innocence and throwing Chen in jail is not a mistake." Luna retorted.

"But harming innocent mammals to do that is a mistake." Robin sr. threw back "…Luna, we're worried about you."

"What are you talking about?" Luna grunted, taking off her quiver and grapple belt.

"You've been acting different lately," Oliva said, sounding apprehensive "a lot more…aggressive."

Luna went still at the word 'Aggressive' and demanded "Such as?"

"That buck deer in the canal district four months back, you put him in intensive care and he only got out last week." Robin sr. recalled with a glum voice.

"That guy was harbouring a rapist, what did you expect me to do?" Luna slung back.

"How about that she-wolf hacking ATMs in Savannah central in April? You gave her an open ulna fracture, she'll never be able to use her left arm properly ever again." Olivia reminded, trying her best to sound intimidating but no matter what Luna was her best friend and it still sounded like a gentle suggestion.

"She attacked me first, I hit back… **harder**." Luna emphasized the last word.

"Do you remember that Pig you mistook for a car thief last week? You broke that poor mammal's jaw…Face it Luna, you need a break." Robin sr. tried to persuade.

"You want me to take a break now? While Chen is still out there?" Luna asked, sounding increasingly frustrated.

"We're not asking you to, we're telling you to." Marian said bluntly.

Luna let this sink for a few seconds before asking in furious voice "You're benching me?"

"Two weeks, no hero work, no practice and no going after Chen…Trust us to deal with it." Marian ordered.

"No." Luna defied with a growl.

"I've revoked your security access to the bunker for the next fortnight, so no weapons or intel." Marian informed "I suggest you take this time to relax and act like a normal eighteen year old for once."

"You made me what I am, you expect me to forget who am I am at the drop of a hat?" Luna barbed.

"I warned you about what would happen if you continued down this path, and time and time again you've defied me." Marian said before turning her back on Luna "Go home Luna, me and your grandfather will see you for Sunday Dinner as always."

Something then snapped in Luna, she went to charge at Marian and send a few blows to her face but just as she went to move the large and powerful claw of Little John clasped her shoulder, holding her back. Luna looked up to Little John with confusion, he just responded with a shake of his head leading Luna to think she had an ally in the fight against Wayland Chen.

A minute later once Robin sr., Marian and Olivia had left the armoury Little John beckoned the sulking Luna to sit down at the workbench and talk to mammal she saw as a great uncle "You doing ok Angel?" Little John asked, calling her the same pet name he used when she was little.

"No." Luna answered, her anger having simmered down.

"You know Rob and Marian are doing this because they love you, right?" Little John asked gently.

"I know but whenever I think of the lies Chen is spewing, I just want to smash his face in." Luna replied, looking up at the grizzly bear.

"So what do you really want Luna? To put him in hospital or in a jail cell?" Little John questioned critically.

Luna thought about this for a moment, she couldn't deny there was a part of her that desired to beat Chen to within an inch of his life but she knew that wouldn't really solve the problem "In a jail cell." She answered.

Little John sighed heavily before instructing "Leave the Bunker and head to the top of the multi-storey parking lot on the edge of the Canal District, I'll bring your uniform and your bow just after 1am."

Luna was confused, but glad a helping hand was being offered, she whispered "Thank you." Before heading out of the armoury.

1am came and Luna was waiting in her civilian clothes on the top level of the parking lot when she heard the familiar sound of Little John's old clunker of a van ascending towards the top. The beaten up van pulled up beside Luna, the grizzly exited the driver's door and Luna was stunned to see he was in his old battle armour and holding his bo staff. "John why the hell are you wearing that? If you're caught in that you'll be arrested!" Luna criticized.

"This is a one time thing, I'm only doing this to help you out." Little John told, twirling his staff.

"But why? Don't get me wrong I appreciate but you seemed to side with Nana and Grandad on this." Luna voiced her puzzlement.

"And I'm still on their side," Little John corrected "but you and I both know that you'd never obey your suspension, you'd found a way to go after Chen and it would end badly. So I'm going to help you just like Rob helped me all those years ago."

"Thank you John." Luna said, hugging onto Little John's big belly.

"But I have some conditions." Little John declared "You follow my every order, we stick together and when this over you will be back on a two week suspension, we clear?"

"…Yeah, we're clear." Luna accepted begrudgingly, still not pleased about being side lined.

"Ok then," Little John seemed satisfied "your uniform and equipment are in the back of the van, get changed."

A couple of minutes later Luna emerged out of the back of the van in her Andraste garb with her bow in her paw, Little John was over by the edge of the Parking lot staring at something across the street. Andraste trotted over and asked "So why are we here?"

"For that." Little John answered pointing at a brick building with the sign 'Den Storage – Specialists in student storage needs' "This place may have the answers we're looking for."

"How do you know this?" Andraste asked sounding eager, already scouting the opposite building for security cameras, there were two on the entrance but none by the roof access, perfect spot to infiltrate.

"Marian's been digging in Chen's family and his daughter is off at Yale and has rented a storage locker in this building, seems normal right? But when Marian hacked the security footage archive she found that before he was arrested Wayland visited this place once a week, every Friday to be exact, for around ten minutes then leave." Little John explained.

"So you think he's storing money and documents in the locker?" Andraste assumed.

"It's a safe bet, before your little tantrum earlier Marian was going to give you this info but she decided to leave it for Spitfire tomorrow." Little John added "We go in and check for evidence, as soon as we find anything solid, we call the police and let them take care of Chen, understand?"

Andraste was a little steamed she wouldn't get to take down Chen personally but this was the closest thing to a win she was going to get, she had no choice but to answer "Yeah."

It didn't take long for the two heroes to get across to the other roof and break open the roof access door, taking care to disable the alarm before busting the lock. They went to the second floor of the building to locker 75, it was just big enough for a bear to fit in but no larger could get inside. Andraste got out a small aerosol can of liquid nitrogen and sprayed the padlock, letting it freeze for a few seconds before shattering it with her bow, it was a neat little trick her grandmother had taught her. Little John pulled up the heavy shutter and flicked on the light switch inside the locker to reveal a pretty standard collection of student belongings, a bookcase, a sofa and suitcases of what were supposedly filled with old clothes. "Where do you think he's hidden the documents?" Little John asked, having to duck his head to enter the locker.

Andraste made a b line straight for a old desk and started to look in the draws "It could be anywhere, search everything." She told, sounding agitated.

Little John ignored the young heroine's tone and started open boxes only to find video games and other un-incriminating stuff. After a few minutes of searching Little John unzipped one of the small suitcases and opened it to find it stuffed with money "Jackpot!" He cheered.

Andraste rushed over and looked at the money with awe "I knew it." She yipped before grabbing another suitcase and opening it to find even more cash, the only difference being that it was filled with euros instead of dollars "Crooked son of a bitch." Andraste huffed.

Little John picked up another suitcase and opened it to find it overflowing with papers "Andraste, look at this." He invited.

The archer stepped over and pulled out a few pieces of paper, she quickly scanned them and said smugly "These are transaction records of sales from auctions houses and not just in Zootopia, he's been doing this all over the country…this is it. This proves my Mommy is innocent."

"Ok, time to call the cops." Little John replied in satisfaction, the bear was about to retrieve a burner phone out of his pocket when voices caught his attention.

"Are you sure you want to get the money now? The feds could still be watching the place?" A unsure voice asked.

"After that flying tin can and crazy fox with the arrows nearly caught me tonight I'm not taking any chances." A stern voice affirmed, a voice Luna had come to despise, Wayland Chen.

Andraste's body just reacted on her rage; she bolted of the locker to see Chen surrounded by five bodyguards, three tigers, a rhino and a porcupine. The archer then started storming towards Chen with fangs glinting "Andraste stop!" Little John bellowed.

"Kill em'!" Chen panicked as he high tailed back to the stairs.

But before any of the guards could get their guns out, Andraste fired a flash arrow at the ceiling, blinding the guards and making them yell in pain while they covered their eyes, Andraste shot two tranq arrows into the porcupine and one of the tigers before heading for the stairs Chen had fled down "I'll get Chen, you take care of these losers!" Andraste shouted, leaving Little John to contend with the three guards.

"Andraste!" Little John roared in anger and disappointment before getting into a fighting stance with his staff.

Andraste got down to bottom level and raced to the door to see a jeep speeding away, she got out side and immediately fired a grapple arrow imbedding itself on the roof of the speeding car, she pressed the button on her belt and flew through the air and landed on the roof with a loud thud. She could hear Chen cursing in the passenger seat, Andraste was preparing a tazer arrow to shoot through the windshield to hit the dash and overload the electrics in the car and bring it to a stop but just as she was about to fire the driver made a sharp right turn causing Andraste to loose her footing and was sent hurtling head first into the waters of the canal. After a few seconds Andraste emerged from the water gasping for air then she screamed "SHIT!" in frustration.

It took Andraste five minutes to get back to Den Storage, soaking wet and hoping Little John had left one of the goons awake for her to beat the hell out of. Andraste traipsed up the stairs, ready for another fight, she reached the second floor and froze. The three remaining bodyguards were gone, the two Andraste had managed to knock out were still sprawled on the floor along with another motionless body. Andraste dropped her bow and whimpered "Little John?" before racing over to where the grizzly bear fell, she fell to her knees and started to shake the outlaw "John, wake up!" she yelled, but then she stopped when she was blood oozing from the left side of his head, his eyes wide open in terror, his mouth clasped shut never to speak a word again and his paws still gripped tightly around his staff. Little John was gone. "No…no,no,no." Andraste sobbed, crying into the armoured chest of the fallen hero before throwing her head back and screaming in emotional anguish.

 **NOW…**

"My anger and my arrogance got Little John killed," Luna said with guilt staining every word "if I had listened to him, if I stayed and fought beside him he would still be here."

Robyn was crying freely, she looked towards Little John's armour display and felt a chill run through her. Robyn didn't resent her sister for this but there was no denying the fact that her actions had gotten the kind old bear killed. Robyn then turned to Luna and said shakily "I always wondered why you were sad when anyone mentions Little John, now I know."

"Do you hate me for it?" Luna asked, prepared for a verbal tirade.

"No…but now I see why you warned me about my anger." Robyn answered timidly, even if she didn't hate her sister, she couldn't bring herself to go over and hug her right now.

Aleks however had no trouble putting an arm around his girlfriend and offering words of comfort "I know this isn't what you want to hear but you didn't pull the trigger, you didn't kill your great uncle."

Luna shook her head and countered with "The only reason John was with me that night was to help me, to stop me before my anger got the better of me and that stupid blind rage of mine got a mammal the Wildes considered family killed…there is no escaping that."

"But now we can help you move past this, I'll support you with whatever you're going through." Aleks dedicated.

"I'm with Aleks on this, you made a mistake and we can help you move on. You said you already go to therapy, maybe we can go with you." Robyn offered, wiping away some tears on her sleeve.

"…The story doesn't end there." Luna admitted, pulling herself out of Aleks hug and walking over to her old bow still hung on the wall.

"What? You mean there's more?" Aleks asked, wondering what else could've happened.

But Robyn had already figured the next part of the puzzle "Chen." She spoke, slightly afraid of what she was going to hear.

"Yes…he was still out there." Luna confirmed, she ran her paw across her bow then continued "In their haste to get out of the storage place the bodyguards only grabbed the money, leaving behind the payment documents and invoices, it was enough to get Wayland arrested but I didn't want that anymore."

"What did you do?" Aleks questioned, already knowing Luna was capable of killing someone in self-defence but murder? Could she murder someone?

"In that moment I was no longer Luna Elise Wilde, I was Andraste in body and soul." Luna told, the horrible sense of guilt pitted in her gut "As soon as I stopped crying I called Grandad and told him what happened before he could ask any questions I hung up and went hunting for Chen. I hunted him for three days, day and night but I found him eventually. The stupid little bastard was getting nervous, Spitfire had passed on the evidence to the cops and now they were after him too. His bodyguards had abandoned him and the asshole was trying to get on a freight train when I finally nabbed him."

 **FOUR YEARS AGO, THE RAINFOREST DISTRICT…**

The millionaire Binturong Wayland Chen's eyes fluttered open, he had massive headache, he remembered sneaking into the trainyard and this shadow appearing above him and then nothing. Chen's head was still foggy but he looked at his surroundings he was in a large dark room with lots of beds and medical apparatus that looked at least thirty years old, the smell of decay and mould filled the room. He looked down at himself and began to panic when he saw himself strapped to one of the beds, and a IV cannula had been inserted into his paw with a bag of saline running into his vein, he struggled against his bonds and began to pant in a panicky manner. "Good you're awake." A blunt voice came from the darkness.

"Who's there?!" Chen barked, his heart going into tachycardia with anxiety.

"We met the other night," Andraste reminded, stepping out of the darkness and over to the bed "you tried to kill me and your men killed my friend. I found you trying to run from your mistakes and took you here, it's an old free clinic, it's very useful to patch myself up during hero work."

"Look, in my bag is nearly half a million dollars, take it." Chen bargained.

"Ugh, why do all you scumbags think money will save you?" Andraste dismissed.

Chen looked at the IV bag and shrieked "Is that poison!? I though you heroes didn't kill people."

"It's just saline I promise you, you seemed dehydrated and I want you fit and healthy for when you're put in prison." Andraste clarified "But don't get me wrong I've thought of killing you a lot over the last few days. I thought about beating you to death, strangling you, firing an entire quiver of arrows into you…but that would be to simple. Someone long ago said 'Dying is easy, living is hard', and I don't want things to be easy for you."

Chen had began to blubber and he sniffed "Fine hand me over to the police, I'll confess to everything."

"I'll arrange your imprisonment soon but first I want to know something." Andraste snarled before leaning into the Binturong's face and demanding "Why did you frame Victoria Todd?"

"Because it was easy; she was dead and everyone thought she was crooked anyway, I tried to bring her in on the laundering racket years ago but she refused, so I made arrangements for her to be blamed if I ever got caught." Chen explained through tears.

"That's it? That's the reason you dragged a dead vixen's name through the dirt? Because it was easy!?" Andraste growled, resisting the urge to grab an arrow and plunge into his heart.

"Y-yes….now please just call the cops." Chen pleaded.

"I never said anything about calling the cops." Andraste said, looking at the fear in Chen's eyes and smiling.

"But you said I was going to Jail!?" Chen shouted.

"What I said was I was going to put you in prison, but I never said it would be one with brick walls and steel bars." Andraste informed "You see if I handed you over to the law the max sentence you would receive would be about twelve years, you'd probably get out in seven…I want you in prison for a lot longer than that, I want you imprisoned for life."

"You're not making any sense!" Chen yelled with fear.

"Do you know what Hypoxia is?" Andraste asked rhetorically before continuing "It's when parts of the body are starved of oxygen for a period of time, it can happen anywhere in the body but where you really don't want to affect is your brain. Do you know why? Because that can lead to a stroke and we all know what those can do. A small stroke ain't so bad but a big one well that can stop your motor functions, make your face droop and remove your ability to speak…it's like being a prisoner in your own body."

"You…you wouldn't." Chen stammered.

"Oh but I would." Andraste assured in forceful voice "Your greed got a good mammal killed."

But then Andraste spotted something across on the other side of the bed Chen was tied down to, it was vixen who looked around six years old with big amber eyes " **Stop it!"** Luna cried.

Andraste growled at the apparition "Go away Mommy's girl!"

Chen looked to where Andraste was looking and asked nervously "Who are you talking to?!"

" **Mommy wouldn't want this! She wanted us to be a good girl!"** Little Luna implored.

"I said shut up, this needs to be done." Andraste responded, getting up from the bedside across the room and opening the cupboard before grabbing an empty syringe "An air embolism is better than a trial."

Andraste went to step back towards to Chen, who was now thrashing, trying to get free himself in desperation and saw the vision of her six year old self standing in her way " **Little John tried to stop you making a mistake, think about what he wanted before you do this!"**

Andraste ignored her conscience and walked around the illusion, taking the syringe out of it packet and pulling back the plunger filling it with air "You deserve this." She spoke down to Chen.

" **Don't!"** Little Luna howled as Andraste grabbed Chen's paw and injected the air bubbles into his blood stream, sealing his fate.

"Oh god no" Chen bawled.

Andraste tossed the syringe aside and said coldly "I sentence you to life in prison."

Andraste could still she the vision of her younger self, who had gone to Chen's bedside and was crying at what the vigilante had done. It only took three minutes for Chen's body to start shaking and his cries to become slurs and that's when Andraste began to crack, she felt a surge of disgust not for Chen but for herself. That's when she heard it…a violin…. "No." Andraste mumbled as she looked at the illusion of her younger self playing her violin, performing the last song she ever played with her mother 'Salut d'amour' "Stop that!" Andraste shouted.

But little Luna continued to play the piece of music that meant so much to her, the fox kit's amber eyes filled with tears matching Andraste's own weeping eyes. It's then that she heard the sound of a piano making all her fur stand on end "Mommy?" Andraste whispered, looking around for the source of the piano but she couldn't find it "Mommy where are you!?" she screamed but the music continued to play and Chen carried on fitting. The music kept on playing while Andraste looked around in vain to see her mother until she couldn't take it anymore, she ran over to little Luna and begged "Where's my mommy?"

Luna stopped playing her violin abruptly, the piano ceased as well, the illusion of the kit looked up at Marian and said in a mourning voice **"She's my Mommy, not yours."** Before vanishing leaving Andraste alone with Chen who was still suffering from the stroke she had caused.

Andraste turned to face Chen and began to cry uncontrollably, she had not only done something truly evil she had killed a part of herself that she could never resurrect.

 **NOW…**

"Afterwards I called Nana, Grandad and Olivia, we got Chen to a hospital, he lived." Luna said, feeling the full weight of shame and guilt pressing on her heart "He got moved to a special home, his wife moved close by and she helps take care of him…I ruined their lives."

"Luna…you…" Robyn couldn't find the right words, she was too in shock.

Aleks seemed shook to his core, not wanting to believe the kind and gentle vixen he loved was capable of such a brutal act "What happened next?" he had to ask.

"I wanted to hand myself over to the police but the others convinced me that by continuing with medical school I could do more good saving lives then rotting in prison. I never wore the costume again, I never became her again." Luna revealed, looking at her old uniform and imaging it in flames.

"But you saw, well, you. Were you ok? Mentally?" Robyn queried, not sure how to feel about the revelation.

"No. I threw myself into my studies and put what happened to the back of my mind, I convinced myself that Andraste was someone else, it made the guilt easier." Luna told "But it never went away, I kept on remembering what I did, I'd remember the anger that drove me to that point and I'd have panic attacks. That's when I began therapy."

"I knew there was a reason you never played that violin in your study, it reminds you of that night." Aleks stated, his voice flat, not revealing any emotion.

"Yeah." Luna nodded before looking at her sister and her boyfriend "So what now?"

"Well…" Robyn started but stopped when Aleks turned on his heel and began marching quickly out of the armoury.

"Aleks?" Luna reacted, surprised by the action. The two Wilde sisters following the silver fox as he stomped over to the open elevator. "Aleks!" Luna called again.

"I need time to process this." Aleks stated, his eyes betraying him, showing his sadness.

"P-please, don't go." Luna choked, running over and wrapping her arms around Aleks waist.

Aleks sighed, pushed Luna's paws away before turning around and delivering a heartfelt kiss to her quivering lips a moment later he pulled back and said "I love you but I need you to give me a little time." He then stepped into the elevator and the doors closed.

The heartbroken Luna crashed into a crying heap on the floor with Robyn wrapping her sister in a comforting hug "Have I lost him?" Luna wailed.

"No, don't say that," Robyn hushed "it's just a lot to process. Just give him time."

"Time won't change what I did." Luna sobbed, feeling her one true love slipping away.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Luna got Little John Killed!? She gave a mammal a stroke!? Will Aleks come back!? What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on SOC; Luna's heartbreak continues, Ronin confronts Cloudkicker, Olivia goes undercover, Kiara's indoctrination begins and Sasha finds herself in danger once again. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	21. Let me be good to you

(AN/ Hey folks, super quick update, I'm actually at my university's 24/7 library uploading this cos the internet in my house is on the fritz. Thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last 2 chapters and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too, so without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 20 – Let me be good to you**

It was just after 4am in Tundra Town when Kit Cloudkicker emerged from a very discreet looking building, to the outside world it looked like an office building but this was just a charade, it was in fact a brothel. Despite prostitution being legalized, regulated and taxed over a decade ago most brothels in the city kept themselves discreet as not to bring down the tone of the neighbourhoods and to keep workers and clients' identities somewhat under wraps. Despite large sections of Tundra Town being destroyed in The Wave this brothel was still one of the most visited in all of Zootopia. Cloudkicker walked over to his snow covered car, unlocked with the fob on his keychain and got himself into the driver's seat, but just as he was about to start the car he felt the cold metal rest next to his throat, he froze in case any sudden movements would provoke his attacker, he sniffed the air and sniffed the air to try and figure out whom was holding him hostage. He didn't catch any whiff of his attacker's natural musk that most mammals gave off but the bear immediately smelt something familiar; a perfume composed of the rarest flowers and sandalwood, it was Shalini perfume, an expensive choice at nearly $1000 a bottle but more importantly Cloudkicker only knew one mammal in the world who favoured that scent. "Hello Ronin." He greeted in a friendly manner, despite having a blade on his jugular.

"Salut Cloudkicker," Ronin replied, her voice oddly chipper in the deadly situation "do you enjoy your rendezvous with your captivating courtesan?"

"How did you find me?" Cloudkicker asked, genuinely curious since he was always so methodical in covering his tracks.

"Well I remember from the few jobs we've worked together that you prefer the services of ladies of the night instead of wooing a fair maiden," Ronin answered in mischievous voice "then I also remembered that you were only into females of your own species."

"You googled 'Sun Bear Prostitutes in Zootopia'." Cloudkicker realised, sounding disappointed in himself.

" _Exactement_ , it was simple enough, when I rang the brothel and requested her the management said she had an all night client starting from 8pm. I hope you don't mind but I climbed the drain pipe and peeked through the window to see if you were really the client…I got to say you are into some kinky stuff." Ronin teased.

"What do you want Ronin?" Cloudkicker snapped, not wanting to discuss what happened in the brothel.

"To voice my disapproval of the last job; you set me up." Ronin stated, her cheerful tone vanishing.

"I thought you would be able to handle Priderock." Cloudkicker dodged, knowing what Ronin's grievance actually was.

"True I nearly had the lioness but you didn't tell me about her friends." Ronin said, pressing the katana just a little harder against the Sun Bear's neck. "You sent me in blind against a wizarding wolf and an immortal warrior, now I know why you didn't go after Priderock yourself, you were afraid of these heroes coming after you."

"We used you to test the water, if you succeeded it would be a win but if things got too hot we would have to come up with a new strategy." Cloudkicker came clean "I'd knew you'd survive."

Ronin was quiet for a few seconds before saying in a simmering tone "…I am a weapon, not a tool. I kill, I'm not a test subject. If you ever pull this stunt again I swear to the gods I will make your death as long and excruciating as possible, do you understand?"

"Yes." Cloudkicker responded, looking in the rear view mirror at Ronin's golden eyes.

Ronin removed her katana from the sun bear's throat and sheathed it back in it's scabbard while saying "I've transferred the money you paid me back to your employer's accountant, it's dishonourable for me to take money for a job I didn't successfully complete."

Cloudkicker knew better than to argue with Ronin on the subject of honour and instead asked "What will you do know?"

"I'm staying in Zootopia for a while, I've already got a few jobs lined up, so if you actually ever have real work for me make sure to call." Ronin answered going to exit the car but then said "I guess I should thank you for one thing."

"And what's that?" Cloudkicker queried, never knowing an occasion when Ronin thanked anyone.

"You've given me a worthy opponent," Ronin smiled, opening the passenger door and hopping out onto the snowy ground "to kill an immortal will be the greatest victory an assassin could ever achieve."

000

Luna was emotionally and physically exhausted after telling Robyn and Aleks what had happened with Little John and Chen, but when Aleks suddenly left the bunker Luna was overcome with despair. She thought that this was it, that this was the end of her relationship with Aleks, the fox she had fell head over heels in love with and honestly he was the first guy she actually been in 'Love' with. Luna pictured herself and Aleks travelling the world together, getting married, having kits and growing old together but now all those dreams were crumbling to dust. Luna had crawled into one of the bunks in the base's dorm and bawled until she fell asleep, whilst Robyn was beside her comforting her big sister.

It was a little after 8am when Luna woke up, her eyes burning from all the crying she had done hours before, she looked over to Robyn who was sat up in her bunk texting on her phone. "Hey." Luna croaked.

"Mornin' Lu." Robyn replied, her voice gentle and her navy eyes full of concern for her big sister.

"Who are you texting?" Luna queried, sitting up, hoping in vain that it was Aleks.

"What happened at your penthouse is all over the news, Kodi and Kion are checking to see if you're ok, Hannah called earlier too." Robyn explained.

"…Any word from Aleks?" Luna asked, sounding ashamed.

"No, not yet," Robyn answered, wishing she could give a better answer "but it's only been a few hours, you just got to give him some time."

"Time won't help, he thinks I'm a monster and nothing can fix that." Luna pitied herself.

"He didn't say that, he said he loved you before he left." Robyn tried to lift Luna's spirits.

"What about you? What do you think about me?" Luna had to ask, even though she was frightened of what answer may come.

Robyn's long ears went droopy and her voice failed her for a few seconds but she eventually forced out "You messed up, you messed up big time. You disabled a mammal who wronged you and got Little John killed…if you had no regrets about these actions then yeah I would hate you but the truth is you DO regret what you did. You've been trying to mend your mistakes and no matter what you tell yourself; you are a good mammal Luna."

"Robyn…" Luna mumbled, wanting to cry but all her tears were dried up.

"Then I thought what I would've done if I was in your position and more than likely I would've done the same, we're sisters after all and we are alike…I'm glad you told me." Robyn continued, getting up from her bunk and sitting beside Luna, she took hold of her sister's paws and added "I love you Lu, that will never change and I'll never think any less of you."

"Robbie." Luna uttered, pulling Robyn into a tight and heartfelt hug, which the hybrid reciprocated.

"C'mon let me take you somewhere." Robyn bridged, pulling back from the hug "Somewhere I go when I need to think."

Forty five minutes later, Luna and Robyn were stood in Sherwood Cemetery in front of the tombstone they had visited countless times, it was the shared grave of their brothers; Ryan, Ronan and Reginald. "Mornin' boys." Robyn greeted warmly, kneeling down and kissing the marble memorial.

"Sorry we haven't visited in a while," Luna added, also kissing the headstone "things have been crazy lately."

"But guess what? Dad's finally mayor! I'm not exactly sure what he does but I know it's important." Robyn chatted casually to her brothers.

"Robbie?" Luna grabbed her sibling's attention "What do you think the boys would think about what I did?"

"That's a pointless question Lu," Robyn replied, sounding wise "and it's question designed to punish yourself."

Luna shook her head before sighing "When did you become so mature? It's supposed to be me looking after you and yet here we are."

"We're sisters, we look out for each other, it isn't about who's the eldest." Robyn corrected.

"I remember when I found out I was going to be a big sister, it was Bunnyburrow and…" Luna reminisced but was cut off.

"And you overheard Mom, Skye and Aunty Heather talking," Robyn smiled "I've heard the story a hundred times."

"I was so excited, when Mom had her first scan and said that there were four of you I was literally jumping around I was that giddy," Luna recalled in a still voice "but then Mom kept getting pains…I was scared, scared that I might lose another mother. They kept it secret from me you know? About the boys dying before they were born."

"What? I thought…" Robyn gasped, thinking she knew the whole story.

"It was only after Mom gave birth that I was told what was going on, that you were the only survivor. I could tell Mom and Dad were heartbroken but they kept a brave face on and despite losing the boys we still had you." Luna told, her paw touching the gravestone.

"You saw them, right?" Robyn asked, wanting to know more about her brothers.

"It looked like they were sleeping," Luna said truthfully "they were swaddled in little blue blankets, they looked so much like you, all four of you got your looks from the Hopps side of the family. Dad was the most upset, apparently this sort of thing is common with rabbits but not with foxes, it took some words from Grandad Robin and Grandpa Stu to calm him down."

"Is it odd that I feel guilty?" Robyn asked out loud "I know I didn't do anything wrong and yet I still feel this responsibility for what happened."

"I know how you feel," Luna concurred "I kept on thinking; what if I helped Mom around the house more when she was pregnant? What if I didn't drag her to play with me all the time? I'd ask myself dumb questions like that all the time before and after the funeral."

"So what stopped it?" Robyn questioned.

"You did." Luna gave her first smile in hours.

"Me?" Robyn asked back, her nose scrunching up in confusion.

"You were never a crier when you were a baby, you'd fuss but never start wailing. I remember a couple of days after the boys' funeral Mom had just finished feeding you and you were getting sleepy then Mom asked me I wanted to rock you asleep." Luna remembered, subconsciously putting a paw atop of her sister's head and stroking her fur "I was scared that I'd drop you but Mom said she couldn't think of anyone better than a big sister to hold her baby sibling, the moment I held you in my arms all that guilt went away because I realised this was what I needed to be; a big sister not a kid who worries too much."

Robyn radiated a soft smile before pulling Luna into a fresh hug "I love you."

"I love you too." Luna hugged the younger Wilde back and felt safe in the knowledge that her sister's feelings for her had not been soured by last night's revelations. The moment was however ruined by Luna's ringtone, she grunted before ending the hug and retrieving her phone from her coat pocket and read the phone screen; DR. THRASH CALLING. Luna had no idea why her therapist was calling her out of the blue but she answered the phone anyway "Hello."

" _Luna, oh thank goodness you're ok."_ Dr. Thrash's voice sound relieved over the phone. _"I read the news on BarkFeed this morning and I couldn't believe it."_

"I'm fine, just a little shook up is all." Luna glossed over.

" _Why don't you come down to the office and we can have a quick chat? It's better to talk about these things before they fester."_ Dr. Thrash invited.

Luna's mind automatically jumped to the situation with Aleks, maybe Thrash could offer some advice to her "Sure, I'll drop by in around half an hour."

000

A few miles away from Sherwood was one of the most expensive rodent sized properties in the entire city, to a normal mammal, say the size of sheep, the place would fit in a bed, a desk and not much else but for Olivia Dawson the apartment was a spacious multi levelled bachelorette pad with a swimming pool, gym, lab, home cinema, one room covered in wall to wall speakers specifically made for rocking out, four bedroom, three bathrooms, a living room, dining room and a kitchen. She had bought this place just after she hit eighteen, she had dropped out of college after one of her professors said she'd never amount to anything, less than three months later she had set up Dawson tech and had secured her first three contracts, netting her more than $30 million and ever since the business had just grown and grown. Olivia used to like her alone time in her spacious apartment, it would give her time to unwind or think up new inventions but all she wanted to do lately was spend time with a certain someone. And right now she was with that certain someone, sharing a bubble bath and resting on his muscled chest.

Blake had a blissful look on his face with his eyes closed, he then said "Y'know I was always a shower kind of guy, but you may have made me a bath convert, it really is relaxing."

"I have this habit of reading a book in the bath with a few cold beers nearby, it's the perfect way to unwind after work." Olivia confessed.

"I'll have to give it a try." Blake chuckled "So what time have you got to head into work?"

"I'm not going in today," Olivia sighed "I want to make sure Luna's ok."

"I couldn't it believe it when you called me last night and told me," Blake sympathised "these Drowned whack jobs are sick."

"…Thanks for coming over last night, I kind of wanted you close." Olivia thanked, sounding a little shy.

"I'm your boyfriend, of course I'll come over if you need me." Blake assured, entwining his paw with Olivia's.

Oliva chest warmed at this sentence, like a flame of love was burning just a little brighter, she was getting more and more accustomed to these romantic feelings. The brown mouse leaned her head back and looked up at her boyfriend's chilled face, her paw reached up and traced the thick scar than ran from his right cheek down to his neck "How did you get that?" she asked inquisitively.

Blake breathed in and said "I fell on some broken glass when I was a kid, pretty dumb I know."

Olivia felt there was more to the story but she could also tell that Blake wasn't lying, she shook off her suspicions and complemented "I think it looks sexy."

"I thought the whole 'Girls dig scars' thing was a myth." Blake replied with a grin.

"We both know I'm not a normal girl." Olivia sniggered before her voice mellowing and saying "So I kind of want to ask you something important."

"Oh?" Blake sounded, looking down at Olivia's cute face.

Olivia had grabbed her tail and was playing with the piercing near the tip in a nervous manner "So, I uh, well I told my Dads about you." She revealed with jitters.

"Really?" Blake sounded surprised, knowing that was a big step in Olivia's case "How did they react to the news your dating a rat?"

"My Dads aren't speciest…that's all me." Olivia replied sheepishly.

"Well you're not anymore, stop beating yourself up about it." Blake instilled. "Anyway what did you want to ask me?"

"My Dads are over the moon I'm finally in a relationship," Olivia revealed in awkward voice "so they really want to meet you, so I was, um, wondering if you would come for dinner at my parents' place next Friday?"

"That sounds great." Blake answered happily.

"Really? You will?" Olivia asked twice, wanting confirmation.

"Sure I'd love to meet your folks…wait there not going to do the whole overprotective Dad thing, are they?" Blake asked jokingly.

"I doubt it, they've been pushing for me to get a boyfriend since I was teenager, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave you the ok to propose to me." Olivia answered casually but then she realised what she said and began blushing under her fur.

Blake noticed Olivia's embarrassed look on her face and couldn't resist taking hold of her by the waist, lifting her so their faces were level and whispering "You're cute, you know that?"

"Hey don't ca-" Olivia began to protest but was silenced by Blake's lips pressing against hers, soon enough the mouse forgot why she was peeved and got lost in the captivating kiss.

000

In the dark and damp refuge that the Drowned called home, the three leaders of the cult were stood in the doorway looking over their new recruit as she ate her breakfast. Kiara had been cleaned up and was actually wearing proper clothes instead of rags, these garments were actually some roughly sewn together elephant sized clothes meant to fit the giant but much slimmer lioness. "I still think it is unwise to have her not go through the regular 'Program' our new initates go through." Beshte voiced his concern, the hippo looking over at the child-like monster.

"You saw those rags she had on, they had bullet holes in them, I don't think injecting her with drugs would work anyway." Bunga countered, the honey badger still awestruck by the giantess.

"Brainwashing her via rapid image exposure won't work either, we have to be smart about this." Fuli stated, her arms folded across her chest "If we play our cards right she could be the Wave's champion."

"Well you're the one who studied psychology, what do you suggest?" Beshte asked.

"Kindness, if we can convince her that we're her friends and we want to help her, she will want to join our family." Fuli explained "I'll take care of this personally, she seems to trust me the most."

"So what do you want us to do? Try and capture Wilde and Big again?" Bunga asked, itching for a new task.

"From our sources in the police and the ZPD they are both heavily protected, it would only result in more casualties if we go after them again." Fuli answered, before pulling out a slip of paper from her robe and handing it to Bunga "This is a list of mammals on the sex offender register, both of you pick one and bring them here to join Samson Missadd in the tank. We'll hold another sermon tonight and the Wave's will shall be done."

"The Wave's will shall be done." Bunga and Beshte chanted before leaving Fuli alone with Kiara who was still eating her very large breakfast., which mostly consisted of fish.

Fuli walked over to Kiara, making sure that she was in the Lioness' eyeline as not to startle her, the cheetah then greeted in a gentle voice "Good morning, it's good to see you have a healthy appetite."

Kiara stopped shovelling food into her mouth and timidly responded "I…I haven't had real food in a while."

"Well you can eat all you want here, you need to build up your strength." Fuli said, leaning against the table Kiara was sat at.

"Where are we?" Kiara asked, looking around at the wrecked expensive furnishings, the hastily repaired electrics and rows of slot machines in the corner of the large room.

"This used to be one of the most luxury casino boats in the world but the Wave claimed it and now it is the home to my family." Fuli explained, reaching out and spinning the roulette wheel in the middle of the table.

"You mentioned family before, were those two mammals you were talking to your brothers?" Kiara asked, tilting her head.

"Yes, all of those who are members of the Drowned are my family, we stick together and help one another." Fuli spun a lie.

"Is that why you helped me?" Kiara asked, sounding anxious.

"Of course, we help mammals in need…mammals who have been treated cruelly by the rest of Zootopia." Fuli said, purposely sounding vulnerable.

"You've been hurt too?" Kiara reacted, also seeming sad.

"All of our family has been shunned by the rest of society. While the rich, privileged elite shelter criminals and killers we are forced to live on the scraps…but the Wave helped us." Fuli baited.

"The Wave?" Kiara fell into the trap.

"The Wave was sent to test Zootopia, so that only those worthy and strong enough could survive, the Wave washed away the evil from Tundra Town, Little Rodentia and Sahara Square. But the unworthy still rule over this city and they come after my family night after night." Fuli fake cried.

Kiara's fragile mind had fallen for the trick and sympathised "I'm so sorry…do you think those are the same mammals who tried to hurt me?"

"I'm afraid so." Fuli ensnared with her crocodile tears before putting her paw atop of Kiara's gigantic one "But me and my family will make sure they'll never hurt you again, you could be part of the family, you could be our sister."

"Family…" Kiara uttered, a look of relief appearing on her face.

"We'll protect you and when you regain your strength you can help guard the family, you'll be our champion." Fuli charmed "What do you say?"

"I won't let the bad mammals hurt anyone else." Kiara answered, her broken mind unable to see she was being manipulated.

"Thank you." Fuli smiled softly hiding her smug satisfaction "But we should really give you a name."

"Mammals call me a monster." Kiara lamented.

"You are the furthest thing from a monster," Fuli cooed "I mean look at you, you're beautiful and your fur so white like a lily, that's it! Lily, the flower of the Drowned."

"Lily," Kiara smiled again, looking at her reflection in some broken glass on the floor "my name is Lily."

000

Luna had dropped Robyn back at the Wilde family home before driving the short distance to Dr. Thrash's office in affluent treetops area of Savannah central, she parked her Bugatti in the private parking lot beside the small office building that seemed to be fully occupied by different kinds of therapists and counsellors. Luna was thinking about what she was going to tell Dr. Thrash as she made her way up the few flights of stairs to the office, she walked into the reception area and could see the usual female wolverine secretary at her desk, she spotted Luna and said kindly "Head right on in, hon, he's expecting you."

"Thanks." Luna responded, her voice still sounding down. She opened the door to see Thrash sitting in usual chair, however the racoon had a more caring expression on his face today "H-hey." Luna opened.

"Good Morning, Luna." Thrash replied.

Luna was about to sit in one of the comfy armchairs when she heard the door close behind her, she turned around to see someone she didn't expect; it was Aleks, he looked like he hadn't slept, his fur was messy, his eyes were puffy from crying and a sombre expression was rested upon his muzzle. "Aleks!?" Luna gasped, dropping her purse in shock "W-what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to your therapist, I got him to bring you here." Aleks informed.

"But…" Luna was about to babble when Aleks shot forwards and enveloped her in a hug.

Aleks held his lover tightly, the stress that he was feeling was slowly fading as he subconsciously marked his mate, rubbing his fur against hers and leaving his musk on her "I'm sorry for running away, you needed me and I abandoned you, I'm so sorry Luna." He said in an emotionally pained voice.

"Why the hell are you apologising? I'm the one who dropped this bombshell." Luna replied, she had never felt so happy to be marked.

Aleks released Luna from the hug and took hold of both of her paws before kissing her gently, when the kiss ended he said "I thought a lot about what you told me, when I ran away I did it because I was scared, not of you, but because I felt I knew nothing about you, the real you."

Luna was beginning to cry again, "You do know the real me." She said with a quivering lip.

"Luna, Aleks came to me because he loves you and he wants to help you," Thrash interjected "now please let us help you."

"W-wait, I need to know something first!" Luna panicked before locking her amber eyes with Aleks' icy blue pools behind his glasses "Do you hate me for what Andraste did to Chen?"

"No, I could never hate you." Aleks answered truthfully "Do I think what you did was wrong? Yes, of course…but you can't keep punishing yourself."

"Someone has to, if I had it my way I'd be in prison for what Andraste did." Luna confessed.

Thrash shook his head at the fact Luna was separating Andraste as a separate identity once again but instead of calling her out on it he said "Luna to move on we must own our mistakes, be we mustn't let our mistakes own us."

"What do you mean?" Luna sniffed, looking over at her therapist and friend.

"For the last four years you've let this mistake control your life and your mental state, it's time for it to end." Thrash declared.

"We're sorry about this Ukochana." Aleks said before nodding at Thrash, the raccoon took this signal, got up from his chair and picked up something hidden behind it, it was Luna's violin case.

Luna's weeping amber eyes focused on the violin case "Ho..how did y-you get that?" her voice trembled.

"I called in a favour at the ZPD, I said I needed to get some clothes from my wardrobe, I grabbed your violin when no one was looking." Aleks explained.

"But why did you bring it here?" Luna sniffed, wiping away some more tears.

"You said last night that you pushed all your guilt onto Andraste, if that's the case then you should be able to play that violin, it belongs to Luna Elise Wilde after all." Aleks said, his voice serious.

"What? But you know why I can't play it…" Luna mumbled, avoiding eye contact from both Aleks and Thrash.

"But you keep on saying Andraste was the one who injected those air bubbles into Chen's IV, so why should you feel bad?" Thrash forced.

"Stop it." Luna pleaded, backing away from the pair of them.

"Just play one song, it's not so hard." Aleks pressured.

"Aleks, don't!" Luna begged.

"Play the violin Luna!" Thrash yelled.

"I CAN'T!" Luna screamed "THAT'S LUNA'S VIOLIN, NOT MINE…." Luna fell to her knees and began to sob "Luna disappeared that night…I'm Andraste."

Aleks helped Luna to her feet whilst saying "Listen to me; you are still the person you were before Chen, you are kind, determined and loving, you are not the demon you make yourself out to be."

Thrash sighed before saying "You've back yourself into a corner with this, convincing yourself that Andraste is the bad guy and Luna is good but that only made things worse. You keep on torturing yourself with the question whether you are Luna or Andraste when the truth is you're both."

Luna just continued crying into Aleks' chest whilst Thrash opened the case and took out the violin and bow before holding them out "Be who you want to be Luna, not who you think are." Thrash spoke.

Luna who was still latched onto Aleks, peeked at the violin, it looked unchanged in four years, age had not corrupted it one bit, she knew both Thrash and Aleks were right and yet there was this poisonous though in her head saying that she didn't deserve to be happy again, to play that violin again. But she was sick of these thoughts, she knew playing the violin wouldn't magically fox all her mental health issues but it might be a start, Luna didn't realise but she had let go of Aleks and grabbed hold of the violin and bow. She was little shocked when she came out of her daze but it felt good to hold the instrument once again "…What should I play?" she asked, her anxiety bleeding through her voice.

"Anything you want." Aleks encouraged.

Luna rested the violin under her chin and thought for a moment, she needed to play something simple, she thought of the first song she ever learned as a five year old 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' she drew her bow across the strings with ease, even though the tune was simple the simple act of playing her violin was liberating. As she continued to play the song she looked at Aleks and Thrash both looking at her with warmth in their eyes but Luna also saw someone else, the illusion of her younger self smiling up at her as if approving of her playing. The song ended and Luna exhaled a long breath before getting wrapped up in another hug from Aleks "I'm so proud of you." He said before kissing her on the cheek.

"That was a lot harder than it looked." Luna confessed, her paws shaking.

"It's a big step Luna, you should feel proud." Thrash complimented "But there is one more thing Aleks wanted to discuss."

Luna looked at her lover and asked "What is it?" fearing he was still unsure about their relationship.

"You are good with that bow," Aleks responded, pointing at the violin bow in Luna's paw "but you're also good with another."

"What happened last night will never happen again." Luna said quickly, assuming Aleks disapproved of her vigilante antics the night before.

"Are you sure about that? You handled the Drowned easily and you haven't been in action for four years." Aleks replied.

"What are you saying?" Luna asked, utterly confused.

"What I'm saying is that the city needs you right now and not just as a surgeon." Aleks stated.

"What!? No, Andraste is unstable, she can't be trusted." Luna garbled.

"If you helped your sister in her fight I know you would be ok, you've grown since Chen, you're a better mammal now…the choice is yours and I'll support whatever option you choose." Aleks offered.

Luna looked at the violin bow in her hand and imagined her archery bow gripped in her paw, the city was a war zone, it was crying out in pain and she could help it but there was still that fear of letting her rage consume her, she knew she had to make a decision but right now both prospects seemed terrifying.

000

"Ok kids quiet down," Marian announced "we've got an important operation and you need to focus." It was just after 4pm and the majority of Team Ceartais had finished school for the day, Robyn and Hannah were glued to each other, Kodi seemed more concerned with washing and tuning up Bella and Kion was texting on his phone while Marian, Robin sr. and Olivia looked at the youngest members of team with disappointment.

"Guys!" Olivia barked, nearly dropping the cherry lollipop out of her mouth "Pay bloody attention, will ya'?"

"Sorry Olivia, it's just I haven't spent any time with Robyn today." Hannah faked apologised, nuzzling next to the more shy hybrid.

"Ugh," Olivia groaned, before looking over at Kodi who was still washing Bella and griped "Kodi it's a truck, not a supermodel!"

"Don't you say that about my Bella," Kodi acted aghast before stroking the side of the truck and spoke to her "don't you listen to that mean little mouse, you are a super model."

" **I am flattered Mage but you should listen to Spitfire, she is the team leader and technically my mother."** Bella replied which caused both Hannah and Robyn to snigger.

"Fine." Kodi huffed, throwing the sponge he was holding into a bucket and walking over to the rest of the team.

"Thank you." Olivia said to Kodi, before looking to Kion who was still texting on his phone "Hey Kion, stop texting, it's time for the mission briefing."

"Sorry, it's my roommate, I'm just saying not to make me dinner since I'll be working all night." Kion apologised genuinely.

"Wait your roommate makes dinner for you? That's really nice of him." Robyn commented.

"Well, uh, it's not a he, my roommate is female." Kion admitted, but he instantly regretted it as soon as he saw the mischievous looks appear on Robyn, Hannah and Kodi's face.

"Your living with a girl!?" Hannah gushed, rushing over to the lion "Are you two dating?"

"You player," Robyn kidded, playfully punching the feline in the gut "so what species is she?"

"Is she a wolf? You think you can hook me up?" Kodi nudged his taller friend.

"Wait, no, me and Jasiri aren't dating!" Kion expressed, sweating under his fur "Look she's just my roommate, besides she's a hyena and I don't think she's interested in me."

"Her name's Jasiri? Oh my god that's so pretty," Hannah giggled "I bet she's beautiful too, all female hyenas are!"

"Wait you said you think she's not interested in you, does that mean you're interested in her?" Robyn gave a very toothy grin.

"Ok Big Guy, give us the truth are you and this girl more than roommates?" Kodi dug for information.

"I, uh, well you see…um." Kion was struggling to speak, he needed a distraction, something to deflect the attention, he looked at Olivia and felt a surge of guilt for what he was about to do, he pointed a finger at the Scottish mouse and blurted out "Olivia has a secret boyfriend called Blake!"

Everyone froze for a moment before turning to look at Olivia, even Robin sr. and Marian seemed surprised at this news but Olivia seemed furious at this exposure "You bastard! How the hell did you know that?"

"I may or may not have heard you talking to him on your phone last training session…sorry." Kion confessed intimidated by the savage look in the wee mouse's eyes.

But before Olivia could fire back, Robin Senior cleared his throat before saying "Observation deck, now, if you're not up there in twenty seconds I'm getting my bow out."

The rookies all shared a look of fright before racing up the metal staircase to the surveillance hub. Less than two minutes later all the ceartais members were sat around the meeting table ready for the mission details. Olivia who was standing on top of the table began the conversation "Ok, thanks to Scarlet and Mage's work we've uncovered that the Drowned are targeting a Drug Lord who's operating out of a rodent only burlesque club, the task is simple we find out who the drug lord is, find evidence against him and pass it on to the ZPD so they can arrest this guy before the Drowned do their own form of 'Justice'."

"But if this a rodent only place, how are we supposed to infiltrate it?" Robyn quizzed.

"You guys are going to be scouting around the club for any signs of Drowned or other criminals whilst I'm in there getting intel on the Drug Lord." Olivia explained "Also if things go tits up, I'm trusting you guys to have my back."

"So what, are you going to pose as a punter?" Kodi wondered how Olivia was going to sneak in.

"There isn't a lot of female punters in this joint," Olivia carried on her explanation "plus I need to get to the VIP area, so I'm going to disguise myself as a performer, the rumour is the best performer of the night is the personal waitress for the VIP area and that's going to be me."

"Wait, you're going to do a burlesque performance?" Hannah scoffed.

"Yes, you're not the only dancer on the team, twinkle toes." Olivia barbed back.

"But your forgetting the most important part," Marian smiled, knowing full well what Olivia's talents were "this is a classic burlesque club which means you'll have to sing as well."

"Well then you're screwed, no offence but a Scottish accent singing isn't very alluring." Kodi laughed.

Olivia rolled her eyes before taking in a deep breath and singing sweetly in an American accent " _A long, long time ago I can still remember how that used to make me smile and I knew if I had my chance that I could make those people dance and maybe they'd be happy for a while."_

"Whoa." Robyn expressed.

"You can really sing." Kion smiled.

"And in an American accent as well." Hannah noticed.

"Of course I can do an American accent," Olivia cut in, speaking like a local Zootopian local instead of her Edinburgh twang "I lived in the states since I was four."

"So why do you sound Scottish all the time?" Kodi pondered.

"My Dads encouraged me to keep it, they say it reminds them of my birth parents." Olivia reasoned, returning to her more comfortable Scottish accent.

"Anyway back to the plan," Robin sr. said, reigning in everyone's attention "Olivia will do her song and hopefully be selected to be the private waitress for the VIP room, she'll learn what she can and at the end of the night leave like a normal employee. The rest of you will be manning the two exits, one is the main entrance; Hannah, Robyn I need you two on the rooftop overlooking the entrance. Hannah will be sniper support and Robyn will be the muscle if push comes to shove."

"What about me and the big guy?" Kodi spoke up, pointing his thumb at Kion

"You'll be on the service entrance side, if Olivia needs to make a break for it, you need to cover her." Marian informed

"But none of us can provide covering fire." Kion voiced his concern.

"…Maybe I could suit up?" Robin sr. suggested with a shrug.

"No." Marian said flatly "We'll just have to do the op without a second sharpshooter."

"You haven't asked all your sharpshooters." A confident voice chimed in.

Everyone turned to the doorway of the observation deck to see Luna leaning in doorway, her amber eyes blazing with determination. "Luna?" Robyn gawped.

"Does this mean!?" Olivia squeaked excitedly.

Luna walked in and said in a sure voice "If you'll have me, I'd like to re-join the team."

Everyone was stunned by this, no more so than Robin sr and Marian, both of them got up from their seats silently with blank expressions on their faces and walked over to Luna, Robin sr. was the first to crack he began to cry before hugging his eldest grandchild and saying "Welcome back, Luna."

Marian was also teary eyed when she joined the hug, adding "You're back where you belong."

Luna hugged her grandparents back, safe in the knowledge this was the right step for her to take.

000

It was just after 10pm and the rest of the team ceartais were in their positions as Olivia approached The Rose Thorn's main entrance, there were two mouse bouncers stationed at the door who were intimidating enough to control the line of punters wanting entry into the classy club. To look at Olivia now you wouldn't recognize her, her fur was completely white thanks to same dye spray that Bullet used, she added a little red lipstick to her lips to make her look more seductive and her body was covered by a big black trench coat. Of course all her multiple piercings on her ears, tail and eyebrows were on display but that wasn't so uncommon among gothic looking mammals, Olivia walked over to one of the bouncers and said in a perfect Zootopian accent "Is this where the dancers enter?"

The bouncer looked at Olivia up and down and gave a sleazy smile "What's your name hot stuff?"

"Miss Kitty, I'm booked for the 10.30 slot…I think." Olivia said, portraying herself as a ditzy airhead.

The Bouncer checked the clipboard he was holding and smirked "Well we do have a Miss Kitty scheduled but how do I really know you're her?"

"Hmm," Oliva pretended to be stumped "well will this prove I'm a dancer?" Olivia opened her trench coat to reveal the very seductive outfit/underwear she had on, it was a classic looking black Basque with frills that hugged her figure and showed off just enough fur to get folks excited, her toned legs were covered with fishnet stockings.

This exposure caused the punters into the line to whoop and cheer before the bouncer smiled "Ok hot stuff, head on in, look for a bat called fidget he'll get you backstage."

"Thanks sugar." Olivia giggled, before sauntering into the Rose Thorn.

Olivia walked past the cloakroom and into the main room of the club and it was like stepping back in time, all the furniture and decorations seemed like they had been taken from the late Victorian era, the chatter of punters and smell of alcohol filled the room while a Kangaroo Rat girl was performing a classic striptease on stage. Her eyes scanned the room soaking in all the details, there was about 120 rodents in the room excluding staff, she spotted three fire exits, three bartenders and two heavies guarding a staircase to the VIP area. "Hey toots, you Miss Kitty?" A gravely voice enquired.

Olivia looked to the where the voice came from and saw a bat in a tacky pinstripe suit with an obvious peg leg, he was grinning up at her with yellow stained teeth, she suppressed her disgust at the rancid smile and replied "And you must be Fidget."

"You're due on in just under thirty minutes, I'll take ya' to the dressing room." Fidget said, hobbling in front of Olivia and guiding her to the staff only section of the club but just as they were going to enter the door, the smash of broken glass caught both her and the bat's attention.

What Olivia saw next shocked and befuddled her; two drunk mice dressed as fishermen were being dragged out by security with one of them ranting in an Irish accent "That scumbag cheated me out of twenty bucks!" but Olivia knew these mice were not sailors, they were pantomiming being inebriated, they weren't even Irish and through their poorly made disguises she could clearly make out the faces of her fathers; Basil and David Dawson. Olivia hid her face as to keep her Dads from noticing her. Why were they here? Why her two gay dads be at a burlesque club in the first place? Why were they in disguise? All of this just send Olivia's mind in a muddle she didn't need right now, she needed to focus on her mission. When another patron threw an empty beer glass at the restrained Basil and David it missed and hit the Kangaroo Rat girl on stage, striking her on the head, she screamed and stumbled to floor

The VIP guards rushed at the glass throwing moron and dragged him to the same exit Basil and David were being forced out of whilst giving him some punches to the face for good measure. As the stage manager helped the Kangaroo rat off stage Fidget turned to the utterly confused Olivia and said bluntly "Looks like your starting early toots."

"O-oh, right." Olivia breathed, the mouse reached into her pocket and produced a usb stick before saying "My song is on this."

Fidget took the usb stick and handed over to one of the stage hands who raced over to the sound station, Olivia made her way onto the stage still wearing her coat and avoiding the broken glass on the wooden boards, she stood in the centre and waited for the music to start. The tease of piano keys came from the speakers and Olivia began to sing with a voice like honey…

" _Dearest friends, dear gentlemammals_

 _Listen to my song_

 _Life down here's been hard for you_

 _Life has made you strong_

 _Let me lift the mood_

 _With my attitude…"_

The first verse enraptured the all male crowd as they looked at the beauty singing, the beat kicked in and well as the trumpets and Olivia began to strut around the stage…

" _Hey, fellas_

 _The time is right_

 _Get ready_

 _Tonight's the night_

 _Boys, what you're hopin' for will come true_

 _Let me be good to you…"_

Olivia let her coat drop to unveil her very revealing outfit to the cheers and applause of her captive audience, she twirled around and suggestively danced as she continued to sing...

" _You tough guys_

 _You're feelin' all alone_

 _You rough guys_

 _The best o' you sailors and bums_

 _All o' my chums_

 _So dream on_

 _And drink your beer_

 _Get cozy_

 _Your baby's here_

 _You won't be misunderstood_

 _Let me be good to you…"_

The music built up and Olivia removed the frilly underskirt that covered her skimpy knickers with a quick swipe of her paw which caused the crowd to whoop like crazy…

" _Hey, fellas_

 _I'll take off all my blues_

 _Hey, fellas_

 _There's nothin' I won't do_

 _Just for you…"_

The instrumental bridge of the song came and Oliva danced on the stage charming everyone in her room with her heart pounding dance, some of the punters reached up on the stage and she playfully shoved them away with her foot…

" _So dream on_

 _And drink your beer_

 _Get cozy_

 _Your baby's here_

 _Hey boys, I'm talkin' to you_

 _Your baby's gonna come through_

 _Let me be good to you."_

The song ended and the audience erupted with rapturous applause, Olivia feigned bashfulness as she mouthed 'thank you' to the punters and blew kisses at them, she was exiting the stage where another act was ready to come on when she spotted the second thing in five minutes that sent her mind into a panic. She spied over at the staircase to the VIP area where two bouncers along with Fidget were leading a mammal up the stairs, Fidget had a gun pressed into the back of the prisoner as he ascended into the VIP area. Olivia noticed the Rat right away "Blake?" She whispered, a million and one possibilities were running through her head and none of them were good.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Luna's back on the team!? Why were Basil and David in disguise!? Why is Blake being held prisoner!? Next time on Star of ceartais; Olivia learns some disturbing truths, Andraste meets her match, Sasha gets in trouble and Jasiri gets romantic advice from an unexpected source. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review and C YA SOON!)


	22. Daddy issues

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais and guess what? This fic has topped over a thousand reviews! YAYYYYY! Thank you all so much for reviewing, liking, faveing, following and reblogging this fic, I really hope you will enjoy the rest of the fic because we're over the half way mark. As always a massive thank you to the SOC development who helped craft this chapter and who help me every week. Ugh I'm glad I got this chapter out today, I've been on my sofa writing this while battling the flu, I intend to sleep after for a solid 12 hours posting this. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 21- Daddy Issues**

Team Ceartais had watched their leader, Olivia, enter the Rose Thorn without any trouble but all of them were still uneasy about letting their friend go in alone. Mage was in the shooting star parked in an alley around the corner from the club, ready to pick up the team for a quick getaway. Roar and Andraste were on the rooftop facing the service entrance which was big enough for a medium sized mammal to deliver booze while Bullet and Scarlet were on another rooftop overlooking the main entrance.

"Spitfire's in." Scarlet spoke into her comm, relaying the info to the Maid back at the Bunker.

" _Good, stay in position and be ready to provide support at any second."_ The Maid replied, the sound of her typing away at the keyboard could be heard " _Hopefully I can hack the security cameras and get an eye on what's going on."_

"Keep us posted." Scarlet acknowledged.

Bullet had set up a tranq sniper rifle, without a scope obviously, on the water tower of the roof she was on, she could sense all the small rodent bodies down at the entrance, smell the alcohol on them and hear their rather lewd conversations, it was no good blocking them out when your senses were super heightened by nanites. The markswoman was laying flat on her stomach, ready to fire at any enemies who poured out of the entrance. "Does this place look sleazy? Because it smells and sounds sleazy." Bullet asked.

"It just looks like a normal rodent building, no signs or anything." Scarlet answered, climbing up the water tower to join her girlfriend.

It was quiet for a moment as Scarlet sat herself down beside the prone Bullet then rather awkwardly queried "S-o? What happened last night, you know, when you went to the Bunker?"

Scarlet let out a sigh before answering "I found out why Andraste quit the team four years ago."

"…You're not going to tell me, are you?" Bullet guessed.

"Babe I love you and I want to share everything with you but this is not my secret to tell, I'm sorry." Scarlet said cautiously.

"Don't be sorry, I totally understand." Bullet assured "It is nice to have another member on the team though."

Scarlet smiled under her scarf/mask before saying "Yeah, I can't wait to see how she fights."

Another ten seconds past in silence but Bullet could 'feel' that Scarlet was staring at her "What are you staring at?" she probed playfully, her tail wagging slowly.

"Just looking at my beautiful girlfriend," Scarlet answered in a content voice "even without your stripes you still look amazing."

"Hmmm, if I didn't know any better I'd say you want something." Bullet smirked, still poised with her rifle.

"…I do actually; a hint." Scarlet admitted.

"A hint? What do you mean?" Bullet asked, wondering what Scarlet meant.

"Well it's your birthday in a couple of weeks and honestly I have no idea what to get you." Scarlet elaborated.

The fact that Bullet was turning sixteen soon wasn't really weighing heavily on her mind, she was more focused on her new school, her role on Team Ceartais and of course, her girlfriend. Bullet had always opted for clothes when it came to presents, but she knew Scarlet's sense of style wasn't as feminine as her own, she stopped herself laughing when she imagined herself in one of Scarlet's sporty outfits. "Look all I really want for my birthday is to have a nice meal with you and my parents, I don't want any presents." She replied.

"Oh come on," Scarlet whined "I can't just get you nothing, it's your sixteenth."

"Surprise me." Bullet shrugged with a cheeky smile on her muzzle.

"But that's why I wanted a hint the first place." Scarlet moaned, hanging her head in defeat.

Bullet was about to chuckle at her lady love but something caught her attention, the sound of raised angry voices was coming from the hallway down from the main entrance and were getting close "Wait, something's happening." Bullet reacted, her voice becoming steely.

"What is it?" Scarlet asked in an equally serious voice, standing up and getting ready to jump down and scoop up Olivia if needed.

"I'm not sure, but there's a lot of shouting, they're all male voices." Bullet told, focusing her hearing.

A couple of seconds a trio of bouncers emerged from the door, throwing out three drunk patrons, two of them were mice who looked like fishermen who worked on the local canal but Scarlet saw through the disguises right away as she muttered in disbelief "Basil and David?"

"What? Do you recognise those drunks?" Bullet queried, taking her finger off the trigger.

"They're Spitfire's Dads, wearing some dumb outfits! Why the hell are they here?" Scarlet pondered aloud.

"I doubt they're here for a show." Bullet jested "Maybe they're doing work for the ZPD?"

"Basil's a CSI and David works in the morgue, they're not cops, this doesn't make sense." Scarlet stressed, hopping down from the water tower and walking across the rooftop where the stumbling and ranting mice were heading around the corner out of sight of security and as soon as they were out of the bouncers' eyeline they stopped stumbling and started walking normally towards a mouse sized car while tossing away parts of their disguises. "What the?" Scarlet mouthed, as she saw the Dawsons get into the car and Basil produce a tablet which he was smiling at "He's trying to hack the system as well!?" the hybrid gasped, she reached for her comm and said "Everyone, we've got a problem."

000

Olivia was trying to sort the jumbled mess of thoughts in her head as she walked towards the shared dressing room all the performers shared _Blake's here!? Why? That bat Fidget had a gun on him that means he's a prisoner? But why would the drug lord want to see him? He's not a criminal…is he? No, he's not! It's impossible, he's always working at Gusteaus or spending time with me, he's got no time to be a criminal…I need to help him._ Olivia's mind swirled, already trying to figure out a strategy to get Blake out of the club. "Hey toots." A raspy voice alerted, Olivia looked toward the source of the voice and found the peg legged bat, Fidget, hobbling towards her "Gotta' say if I were a mouse I'd be horny as hell after watching that act."

Olivia's skin crawled at the repulsive comment but remained in character as she giggled "You're just saying that."

"Well I'm sure the gentlemammals in the VIP lounge would appreciate your presence, we'll throw in a $1000 tip if you're the personal waitress for the lounge tonight, sound good?" Fidget offered with that horrible yellow toothed grin.

Olivia prayed that Blake wouldn't recognise her in her 'Miss Kitty' persona but she knew this was her best shot to get him out of here, the mission didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was getting Blake to safety. "Sure thing." Olivia feigned joy.

It took less than two minutes for Fidget and Olivia to make their way across the spacious club to the VIP area, Olivia was glad she could breeze past security but she was already figuring out an exit strategy if necessary. Fidget opened the double doors to the lounge, it was a room a tenth of the size of the main club room, there was a small bar where a lone grey mouse waiter was standing to attention like a soldier, there was a billiard table and a dartboard in the corner, a few round antique tables dotted the room but only one mammal was sat at them, it was Blake with two heavies brandishing sub machine guns stood behind him ready to open fire if he made a wrong move. Luckily for Olivia, her boyfriend was staring at another set of doors with a gold plaque with 'Management' engraved upon it, Olivia read Blake's face and saw no sign of fear only anger leaving the disguised mouse even more confused than before. "Ok toots head to the bar, don't say a word and bring over the drinks when they're ordered and most importantly; anything you see or hear in this room never happened, got it?"

Olivia nodded and waltzed over to the bar, pretending to be relaxed but on the inside she just wanted to grab Blake and get him out of there. In the couple of minutes that passed Olivia had formed a plan where she would grab two champagne bottles that were in an ice bucket on the bar and use them to knock out the enforcers holding Blake at gunpoint, she knew the plan was dumb, ill conceived and born out of her fear for her boyfriend's safety. But the plan never came to fruition as the management doors swung open and in walked a broad shouldered and imposing figure, he was tall for a rat, well groomed and well dressed to boot but Olivia had to hold herself back from her shock and alarm, even though it had been years since she saw his face plastered all over the media she knew the face of Professor Padraic Rattigan anywhere. "Blake, so nice to see you." Rattigan gave a smug smile, going over to the table and sitting himself down "It's been far too long."

"Not long enough." Blake replied bitterly while glaring at the older rat.

"You don't seem that shocked to see me." Rattigan noticed, holding his cigarette holder out waiting for it to be lit by one of his henchmen, Fidget quickly shuffled over and lit the cigarette on the end.

"I figured it must've been you, who else would get three armed goons to bundle me into a car? Then when I saw the bat I had no doubts, I'm surprised your wildcat isn't outside standing guard." Blake replied, his dislike for Rattigan was clear to hear in his voice.

Rattigan took a drag of his cigarette then exhaled while sighing "Oh my dear Felicia, she was the perfect enforcer, when she was caught by Interpol in Munich she never snitched on me, it's a shame she spent the rest of her life in prison…but enough about the past, we're here to talk about the future."

"I was brought here against my will," Blake threw back "and what makes you think I want to talk to you anyway?"

"Come now, this is just a friendly conversation, how about a libation?" Rattigan tried to charm, before snapping his fingers and ordering "A glass of champagne for me and a double of our best scotch for our guest here."

As the bartender started to prepare the drinks Blake eyes narrowed before he asked "How did you know I like scotch?"

"It's the drink you have after every shift isn't it? You usually have a drink with your uncles after the restaurant closes." Rattigan answered, taking another puff of his cigarette. The drinks were now poured and placed on a silver serving tray, Olivia composed herself, picked up the tray and walked over to the two rats.

"You've been watching the restaurant." Blake stated with anger in his voice while Olivia placed the champagne flute on the table in front of Rattigan, luckily both rats were so focused on one another they barely registered Olivia's presence.

"Well it's only natural for a father to take an interest in his son's life." Rattigan smarmed before taking a sip of his champagne, Olivia had to steel her nerves and keep her poker face on when she heard this sentence. _Son? I didn't hear that wrong!?_ As she placed down the tumbler of scotch in front of Blake she stole a glance at the two, Blake had different coloured fur and eyes than Rattigan but they both had the same broad shouldered and muscly physique. _Oh god, they are related!_ Olivia's mind raced as she walked back to the bar.

"That'd be a first, you haven't given a shit for the last 25 years Padraic." Blake simmered, deliberately calling Rattigan by his first name instead of 'Dad'.

"Well see this an opportunity to reconnect." Rattigan smiled, taking another swig of his drink.

"There was no connection in the first place," Blake stated "I had one parent and her name was Bernadette Gusteau and the best thing she did was keeping me away from you."

"Ah Bernadette, I heard what happened, heart attacks are so cruel." Rattigan commented.

"Don't act like you cared about her, she was just a one night stand to you." Blake spat, Olivia had never seen her gentle boyfriend so riled up before, she knew that Blake's mother passed away a few years ago but know she knew why he never mentioned his father.

"It takes two to tango my dear Blake," Rattigan smirked "as I remember Bernadette was quite quick to drop her knickers for me."

Blake's eyes filled with rage and he rose to his feet and looking like he was about to leap over to the other side of the table and throttle Rattigan but the guards cocked their guns to signal the younger rat to sit down, he begrudgingly sat back down but as he did he hocked a spit at his father's face, all of the guards looked aghast at this act, expecting the drug lord to erupt like a volcano but instead he just got out the pink handkerchief that was tucked into the breast pocket of his suit and wiped away the saliva off his face before saying "You get that one for free."

"Speak that way about my mother again and you'll regret it." Blake warned.

"Hmm, I remember this first time we met you were so happy to see me, whatever happened to that rambunctious little boy?" Rattigan asked, still smoking.

"That boy got a glass to his face for interrupting you, remember?" Blake asked rhetorically, pointing to the thick jagged scar that ran from his cheek to his neck.

"That's in the past," Rattigan waved off "I'm here to talk about the future."

"Just say what you have to so I can leave." Blake responded.

"I'm sure you've heard about these Drowned fanatics causing trouble in the city; they've kidnapped the son of an old associate of mine, they may target you next." Rattigan explained.

"Hardly anyone knows that we're related, I'm sure I'll be fine." Blake replied.

"Fair enough," Rattigan shrugged "I just thought I should warn you."

"Is that the only reason you dragged me here?" Blake asked, sounding dubious.

"Well I've been thinking I should legitimize some of my holdings, maybe buy a nice wholesome and honest business, I was thinking maybe a restaurant." Rattigan said with an over the top innocent voice.

"You want to buy Gusteau's?" Blake uttered before laughing "Why the hell would uncle Remy sell it to you? He hates you almost as much as I do."

"I'm not looking to interfere in the business, I'd be a silent partner and from time to time certain wealthy individuals would leave very large tips and go home with dessert in a bag." Rattigan coded.

"You want to sell drugs through the restaurant?" Blake scoffed "You're crazy, Remy would never agree to that and I'll never let you set foot in Gusteau's."

"But with all this Drowned business going on in the city maybe it's time to get a little protection," Rattigan bartered "and besides Zootopia's always been a dangerous place, maybe Remy or Émile are walking down the street and a mugger attacks them, wouldn't it be better if they were protected by me?"

"If you lay one finger on them-" Blake growled but was stopped by Rattigan.

"You'll what?" Rattigan snarled, sick of his son's distain "Remember who you're talking to boy!"

The sound of Fidget's phone vibrating cut the tension, the bat got his phone out and read the text message before saying "Uh, boss the delivery girl is here with the fresh sushi you ordered." Obviously, this was a code for something more sinister.

"Ah, good, she was a lot quicker than I thought she would be." Rattigan commented before looking at Blake once more "Think about what I've said Blake, even in the worst of times family has to stick together."

Blake remained silent and downed the double scotch in front of him before asking bluntly "Am I free to go or what?"

"Go on, go back to your pathetic job, I'll be in touch." Rattigan insulted waving off his child as he stormed out of the VIP lounge leaving Olivia stunned at what just transpired.

Rattigan finished his champagne and stubbed out his cigarette before going back into the management office with Fidget close behind him. Olivia had gotten all the info she needed, she knew that were multiple outstanding warrants for Rattigan, she just needed to contact the police and it would all be taken care of. She would wait for a few minutes, make an excuse about needing the bathroom then hopefully escape the club unseen.

000

Mage was kind of disappointed he was the only team member not paired off for this mission, he had been sat in his truck for over an hour now and he was growing increasingly bored. Sure there was the entertaining comm chatter about Spitfire's parents showing up and trying to hack the Rose Thorn's surveillance and the Maid's subsequent battle to keep them out, if they saw Olivia on the CCTV feed it would be a fiasco.

As Mage checked his phone for the tenth time that minute he spotted two teenage she-wolves walking by the end of the alley, they looked a similar age to himself and he told himself it was the universe sending two beauties to end his boredom, he stuck his head of the Truck's window and called out "Good evening ladies."

The two girls stopped and looked for the source of the voice, when they saw Mage they let out excited squeals and rambled over while gushing "Oh my god, it's The Mage!"

Mage let a toothy grin and stepped out of the vehicle to meet the two teens, casually leaning against the side of his truck "How are you doing on this fine evening?" Mage asked with a wink.

One of the she-wolves was a tad taller than Mage, she had grey fur and was dressed in a pink hoodie and skinny jeans "It's really you, you're much cuter in person!" she complimented.

The other female wolf was the same height as Mage but had a dusty gold tint to her fur, she was in matching black skirt and tank top combo and beamed "I'm Chloe and this is Katie."

"Well your pretty names match your pretty faces." Mage flirted shamelessly, getting out a deck of cards and shuffling them in one paw with ease.

Both girls giggled with glee before Katie asked "So what are you doing out here?"

"On the hunt for bad guys." Mage said in a cool manner, making the deck of cards disappear with a flick of his paw, astonishing the two enraptured she-wolves.

"Are you really a wizard?" Chloe asked, her brown eyes shining.

"Sure want to see a magic spell?" Mage grinned, getting his wand out and twirling it.

"Yeah!" Both girls answered in unison.

"Ok here it goes…Evanescet!" Mage said theatrically before disappearing completely, the two girls gawped in shock and awe until a few seconds later when Mage tapped them both on the shoulder from behind "Ta-da!"

"That was amazing!" Chloe exclaimed.

"How did you do that!?" Katie asked, completely baffled.

"Sorry, that's a secret." Mage eased.

Chloe who had her phone out ready latched onto Mage and sang "Selfie time!" Katie linked onto Mage's other arm and both girls shared a wink with one another before both planting a kiss on the cheeks of the wizardly wolf just as the photo was taken.

Mage was about to make a witty comment but halted when he heard the unmistakeable sound of a powerful motorcycle engine, he looked to the end of the alley and in a blink of an eye a black superbike zipped by with a white bunny wearing a black skull mask riding it. Mage suddenly got serious "My apologies ladies, duty calls, you best get out of here." He urged, both girls could sense the seriousness in the vigilante's words and hastily went in the opposite direction the bike was headed. The Mage then spoke quickly into the comm on the lapel of his jacket "Guys we got company, the samurai is back!"

At the service entrance of the Rose Thorn, Ronin parked up her bike and nodded to the two dormice standing guard at the small entrance that Ronin would barely be able to squeeze through. She'd have to wait for her client to come out to her, one of the dormice sent a text most likely to one of Rattigan's capos. A few minutes later the infamous Professor Rattigan emerged from the building with his lackey bat Fidget close behind him "Ah the wonderfully wicked wielder of a katana herself, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Ronin." The flamboyant rat greeted

"Likewise Professor," Ronin replied, bowing slightly "I have your order."

"Splendid." Rattigan grinned, clapping his paws with excitement "Let's see what treats you have brought me."

Ronin opened the storage box on the back of her bike and emerged with a bloodstained bag in one paw and a gagged and squirming Grey Squirrel in the other, she tossed the squirrel to the ground and kicked him in the gut before informing "This is Josh Jenkins, he's been feeding info about you and the Rose Thorn to The Drowned in return for money." The assassin then placed the bloody duffel bag in front of Rattigan and opened it slightly to reveal five severed heads of small mammals; two mice, a weasel, a hedgehog and chinchilla. "And these are the five pieces of 'Fresh Sushi' you requested."

"Marvellous." Rattigan chuckled "I can't believe you got it done so fast, you truly are as magnificent as they say."

"You honour me Professor." Ronin nodded at the compliment.

"$55 thousand has been wired to your account, $10k for each piece of 'Sushi' and extra $5k for this snivelling snitch." Rattigan informed, glowering at the terrified Josh on the cold ground.

"Shall I take care of him?" Ronin asked with ease, putting her paw on her katana "Free of charge, of course."

"I appreciate the offer but I have plans for this bushy tailed bastard," Rattigan grinned devilishly at the squirrel struggling against his bonds "ungag him, I need to talk to him."

Ronin did as ordered and ungagged the informant who immediately started rambling "Professor, I didn't have a cho-"

"Silence." Rattigan said forcefully "Now I want you to tell me exactly what you told The Drowned."

Josh gulped and held back his tears before revealing "I gave them photos of the club, told them how much security you had and where your office is."

"There are trying to whack me? Hmmm, they are brave." Rattigan mused "And have you been to the place they call home?"

"No, I swear! I give all the intel via dead drops I swear." Josh pleaded.

"I believe you." Rattigan assured "Here's what you're going to do Josh, you're going to go the dead drop and wait for them, as soon as spot them, you're going to call this number." Rattigan dropped a business card in front of the tied up Josh "And our dear sweet Ronin here will come and capture one of them for me."

"Y-you got it." Josh accepted, not believing his luck.

"Release him." Rattigan commanded.

Ronin obeyed and untied the ropes that were around Josh's wrists and ankles, the squirrel hastily scurried away into the night. Ronin thought this was a foolish strategy but she knew better than to question a client's wishes "If that is all Professor, I shall take my leave." Ronin bade farewell.

"Yes of course," Rattigan allowed, before noticing the Japanese kanji character on Ronin's blood red scabbard, it stood for 'Oni' which translates to English as 'Demon'. The mob boss smiled then continued "If my memory serves me correctly there used to a Japanese Assassin who carried a very similar sword; an Amur leopard to be exact. Now what was her codename again?"

Ronin's ears went droopy at the mention of the leopard but she still answered clearly "Oni, her name was Oni."

"I had heard that she took in a protégé, tell me how is she fairing these days?" Rattigan asked, genuinely curious.

"Ronin means samurai without a master…I think that explains how she is doing." Ronin said solemnly as she mounted her motorcycle.

Rattigan figured out what the rabbit was hinting too and replied "I'm sorry, that was thoughtless of me."

"Think nothing of it." Ronin ended the conversation before turning on the engine and speeding out onto the streets of the Canal District but just as she driving away a gust of wind blew by her face carrying a familiar scent, as soon as the smell hit her nostrils she whispered "Scarlet?" before grinning sadistically "Oh this night just got interesting."

000

Fifteen minutes later all of Team Ceartais including Olivia were crowded around the shooting star, Olivia who was still dyed white and wearing a trench coat looked exhausted from the craziness of the last hour, she was stood on the hood of the pickup truck "So to review; my Dads are apparently trying to bring down a mobster, said mobster is Professor-Bloody-Rattigan who also happens to be the estranged father of my boyfriend." She ranted while chewing on a much needed chocolate bar, she needed her sugar fix.

"And I thought my life was complicated." Bullet tried to joke.

"And let's not forget that Samurai." Scarlet growled.

Andraste actually smiled "I'm proud of you Scarlet, you controlled your emotions and didn't go after her, you put the mission first."

Scarlet crossed her arms and pouted "I still wanted to bash her brain in."

"But the mission was a success, we found out who the Drowned are targeting and even better we don't need to gather any evidence on Rattigan, the guy's wanted on so many charges the ZPD can arrest him like that." Roar stated with a snap of his fingers.

"So what do we do? Call the cops?" Mage queried.

"No," Olivia sighed "we can't rule out the Drowned finding out, we're going to have to tell a cop we trust."

"Aleks?" Andraste wondered.

"No, we need someone with the authority to order a raid, we're going to need a chief." Olivia corrected.

"Our Mom?" Scarlet and Andraste answered simultaneously.

"She's one of the few mammals we can trust in the ZPD, she's also the highest ranked." Olivia said, finishing off her candy bar.

"Ok, so how do we tell Judy?" Bullet asked "Like leave her a note or something?"

"I'll do it," Olivia informed "I'll show up in my Spitfire armour at the window of her office tomorrow and tell her."

Andraste could still see the stress in her best friend's face and put her large paw by the tiny mammal, stroking her face with one finger "You ok?" she asked genuinely.

"Not really," Olivia confided, hugging onto Andraste's finger "I was so scared for Blake, now I know why he's so straight laced, he doesn't want to be like his old man. And talking about fathers, what the hell were mine doing there!?"

"Yeah two gay guys at a titty bar doesn't make sense." Mage kidded. Everyone shot The Mage an unimpressed look to which he replied with "What?"

Roar shook his head and got the conversation back on track "Look we all know your parents are good mammals, they wouldn't be doing this if they didn't have a good reason. Maid blocked their hack and is already trying to piece together the puzzle, it'll be ok Olivia."

"Thanks Roar." Olivia smiled up at the towering Lion, he really was a sweet guy. "Well I think that's Mission accomplished guys, who's on the rest of the shift?"

"Me." Scarlet answered as she raised her paw.

"And I've swapped with Roar," Andraste answered sounding happy "it's going to be a sister act tonight."

The frustration of missing the chance to fight the bunny assassin vanished from Scarlet's mind and was replaced by the excitement of getting to work with her big sister.

Two hours passed since they left the Rose Thorn and in that short space of time the Wilde sisters had nabbed a burglar, a pill dealer outside a nightclub and beat up three Razor gang members robbing a pharmacy. The two sisters were high up in a tree in the Rainforest District looking down with satisfaction at the three Razors being bundled into a police van "Ok, now that was cool." Scarlet admired "The way you used your grapple arrow to latch onto that dumpster and ram it into that Platypus was so cool."

"You're not too shabby yourself, knocking out a panda with a single punch is no easy fete, even with super strength." Andraste complimented, checking how many arrows she had left in her quiver.

"…So how does it feel? To be back in your uniform and holding that bow again?" Scarlet asked the difficult question.

"Happy and terrified are the words that spring to mind." Andraste confessed, using her grapple arrow to swing across the canopy in search of more crime to fight.

Scarlet used her enhanced agility to jump from tree to tree with ease while continuing the conversation "What are you terrified of?"

"You really have to ask?" Andraste answered, swinging from tree to tree "I'm scared of losing control again."

"Well that's what everyone is going to help you with, we got your back." Scarlet promised, landing on the sky tram platform. But as soon as Scarlet's large feet hit the ground a gleaming piece of sharp metal came zipping at her from the bushes, Andraste's eagle eyes caught this and her lightning fast reflexes sprung into action, she fired a real arrow at the flying object heading for her sister while still in mid air, bringing the projectile to the ground. Andraste landed by her sister and had already drawn another arrow before Scarlet even realised what was going on.

"Scarlet eyes at nine o'clock, we've got company." Andraste warned, looking briefly at the object she had shot out of the air, it was a shuriken.

Scarlet got into a fighting stance and also noticed the shuriken before snarling "It's her."

Then out of the bushes emerged Ronin with her katana drawn, the first pitter patter of rain began to bounce off the blade "Lovely weather we're having." She faked a pleasantry.

"You've been following us since the Rose Thorn, haven't you?" Scarlet spat, waiting for the perfect opportunity to leap at the bunny.

"I caught your scent and it got me curious about what you heroes do, you act all righteous by taking down criminals but it's easy to see you're enjoying the violence that comes with it." Ronin commented.

"Says the killer who cuts off mammals' heads, you must get some sick thrill out of it." Scarlet berated, as the rain began to get a little heavier.

"My name is Ronin not killer and to be perfectly honest it's only pleasurable when I'm against an opponent who has a good chance of besting me, all the rest are like cutting through shadows." Ronin revealed.

"Why are you here Ronin?" Andraste spoke up, her tazer arrow trained on the rabbit's torso, however the vixen was certain this assassin could easily dodge it.

Ronin took her eyes off Scarlet and gazed at Andraste, soaking up every curve of the vixen's body revealed through her daring outfit before purring "Ooh-la-la, you're even more ravishing up close mademoiselle. May I know your name?"

Scarlet's face screwed up at the assassin's odd words but Andraste simply said "Andraste, now will you answer my question; why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious!?" Scarlet shouted "She wants to kill us!"

Ronin wagged her left index finger and tutted "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you misunderstand child. I simply indulging my curiosity."

"And why should we believe you? You hurt Kiara! And tried to kill me." Scarlet argued.

"Believe me girl one of these days someone is going to hire me to kill you and all of your super friends and that'll make me a lot of money, so what would be the point of killing you for free?" Ronin laughed "No, I'm here for a friendly exhibition battle, to see how long I can last against an immortal."

"Big mistake bitch," Scarlet slung "we're going to wipe the floor with you and hand you over to the cops."

"Confident, aren't we?" Ronin giggled, spinning her sword in her paw.

Andraste looked at her sister and reminded her "Scarlet, remember what we talked about, keep your emotions in check."

Scarlet didn't see the steely determination in Andraste's amber eyes that had been there all night, only concern. Scarlet took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down "Right, sorry."

"Hmmm, such obedience." Ronin pondered out loud as she read the situation "And not from fear, this is out of respect and love, I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say you're sisters."

"Got it one," Andraste confirmed "and you threw a shuriken at my baby sister."

"It's not like it would kill her." Ronin chortled "How about you Andraste? Do you share your sister's gift?"

"Nope, I'm normal…well as normal as a vigilante can be." Andraste jested with the enemy.

"Then how about this? You and I have an exhibition fight, if you win you can do with me what you will." Ronin bargained.

"And if you win?" Andraste asked, lowering her bow, sure that Ronin was an honourable combatant.

"I want a kiss from you." Ronin said in a silky voice, her French accent making it seem more sexual than it actually was.

"I hate to break to you but I'm hetero and not an inter." Andraste shot down.

"Wait are you actually flirting with my sister to get out of a fight with me?" Scarlet accused "You coward!"

"Quiet child, I'm not interested in the kiddy meal, I want the main course." Ronin smouldered, her golden eyes absorbing Andraste's beauty "You are tainted like me, I can tell. We're both corrupted."

"Oh you have no idea." Andraste smirked, but on the inside she was trying to keep her dark tendencies at bay "But like I said; I'm straight."

"Maybe the vixen under the mask is, but what about the real you?" Ronin flirted, unaware of how the phrase 'The real you' affected the red fox.

"Very well, I accept your challenge." Andraste agreed, pushing her negative thoughts away and rallying herself to defeat the white rabbit.

"You can't trust her. Are you crazy?!" Scarlet blasted.

Andraste looked at Scarlet and replied "Believe me I know crazy, but I also know an honourable fighter when I see one. It'll be ok, promise me you won't interfere unless absolutely necessary."

"…Fine, but be careful." Scarlet agreed begrudgingly.

"So how are we doing this? Hand to hand? My katana outmatches your bow." Ronin conversed.

Andraste put down her bow on the wooden platform of the sky tram station before unsheathing two long daggers from her belt and twirling them like pinwheels before stating "We use blades only, no projectiles, a first blood match ok with you?"

"Sounds perfect." Ronin smiled under her mask before charging at Andraste, the archer read the stabbing motion and deflected it one of her daggers whilst slashing across with the other, Ronin ducked under dagger narrowly and sent a kick Andraste's stomach to make her stagger back and get some distance between them. Andraste was actually giving a very predatory grin that excited Ronin before they both threw themselves into another attack both of them zipping like humming birds as their blades danced off one another with the sound of clashing metal drowning out the rain, Scarlet who was watching the battle with unease counted 32 parries in less than twenty five seconds, both of them seemingly equal in skill. But just before the 33rd parry Andraste side stepped Ronin and caused her to stumble forward, Andraste saw this as her opportunity to deliver a small cut to the back of the bunny's leg but she miscalculated the way Ronin was tumbling, she wasn't falling she was rolling and with one swift swipe of her Katana the blade went vertically up across the vixen's chest with precsion, not cutting her fur or skin but the leather laces of her bodice causing it to be torn open leaving her chest exposed, in a panic Andraste tried to cover herself up but that was a mistake Ronin had closed the distance between then and delivered the smallest of cuts to Andraste's arm. She stepped back and showed the small amount of blood on her Katana before cooing "I win."

Andraste let out a defeated grunt, her left paw still clasped on her bodice trying to keep it closed as she conceded "Yes, you win."

"Now about my prize…" Ronin said seductively, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Fine, get it over with." Andraste mumbled disappointingly, crouching down so she was eye level with the bunny, Ronin then stepped forward pulled down her mask quickly and locked lips with the vixen.

"Andraste now!" Scarlet roared pouncing at the bunny, Ronin must've been expecting this because she dropped a smoke bomb she had ready in her paw. Scarlet jumped through the smoke and grabbed absolutely nothing, when the smoke was clear all that were left were two defeated Wildes who only just realised they had been played. Andraste went to grab her hat that had fallen to the floor during the fight, only to find the signature red feather was gone "Ugh, great." She griped.

000

Alice Kirabito was a very happy bunny, she had gone to sleep last night with the fresh memories of her battle with Andraste in her mind and the red feather that she stole from her foxy foe's hat on the pillow beside her. When she woke up the next day she still had a smile on her face, whilst she was enjoying her first coffee of the day and watching the news she still had the archer on her mind. She could tell from the way she dispatched petty criminals that she was holding back her more ferocious side, her amber eyes had been cold and calculating but also hungry, Andraste wanted to be more violent it was easy for Alice to see. She swore to herself that she would unleash this dark side of Andraste, but she wasn't sure if she wanted fight this side or making love with it, either way it was going to be enjoyable. Yes, coming to Zootopia was proving a sound decision thus far; she had a lot of contracts, made a sworn enemy out of an immortal and found the most beautiful and deadly love interest she could imagine. She set her coffee cup down and took a whiff of the red feather she had stolen and imagined Andraste's alluring body but her daydream was rudely interrupted by a knock at the door. Alice never expected company and if someone came knocking it was usually a rival assassin trying to take her out, she walked to the door with one paw in the umbrella stand ready to retrieve the concealed pistol in case of trouble "Who is it?" she asked sweetly.

"It's me, Jasiri." The hyen'sa voice came through the door.

Alice put the gun back in the umbrella stand and opened the door to see the late teens canine holding a large cake on a plate "Salut." Alice greeted happily.

"Hey there, I felt rude for rushing off the other day so I decided to bake you a house warming gift, I hope you like lemon drizzle cake." Jasiri said with a smile.

"Oh that's so nice, merci." Alice beamed, stepping aside "Come in, I've got some fresh coffee."

"Thanks." Jasiri replied, walking in and setting the cake on the coffee table whilst Alice practically skipped to the kitchen "Someone's happy." The hyena noticed.

"Ah, I can't help it." Alice gave a happy sigh, grabbing an extra cup and the cafetiere from the kitchen worktop "I met someone last night."

Jasiri let out a hyena laugh before saying "Wow, I'm impressed you've only been in Zootopia a few days."

"She's the most gorgeous creature I've ever laid my eyes on." The rabbit commented gleefully, returning to the living room and setting the cup and cafetiere on the table before pouring her guest a cup.

"So you're into females?" Jasiri asked, using the kitchen knife she brought to slice through the cake.

"Male, female, it doesn't matter as long as they are interesting and we connect personality wise…what is the English word? Pansexual?" Alice answered with a question.

"That's the word," Jasiri nodded "so where did you meet this girl?"

"At a sky tram station in the rainforest district, there was an instant connection, I could tell we were alike." Alice reminisced with a dreamy voice.

"So did you ask her out?" Jasiri probed, passing Alice a slice of cake.

"Something like that, I even got a kiss at the end of our rendezvous." Alice danced around the truth, before taking a bite of the cake and saying with a full mouth "Delicious."

"Thanks…hell, I wish I had your luck romance wise." Jasiri said before taking a sip of coffee.

"A beauty like you has trouble snagging a male? Ridiculous." Alice commented honestly, there was no denying Jasiri was beautiful.

"It's always the wrong type of guy and the right type of guy…just isn't interested." She lamented.

Alice put her cake on the coffee table before saying in a soft voice "It's your roommate isn't it? The handsome lion?"

Jasiri let out a reluctant nod then spoke in a sad voice "I've dropped hint after hint that I want to be more than friends but he just ignores it, maybe he doesn't want to hurt my feelings."

"Wait, you've openly flirted with him? Did he stutter and stammer?" Alice asked with a sure smile.

"Yeah, why?" Jasiri asked back.

"And is he overly polite around you?" Alice asked further, her smile growing bigger.

"Uh-huh." Jasiri confirmed.

"And does he avoid eye contact with you when you're really close to him?" Alice quizzed, certain that the answer was yes.

"How do you know all this?" Jasiri wondered.

Alice threw her head back and let out a long laugh for a few seconds before chuckling "Of course he likes you but there's one problem."

"What?" Jasiri was itching to know.

"He's a virgin." Alice laughed.

"Wait, what? Kion's really good looking, he used to be on the football team at his school, there's no way he's a…" Jasiri began to counter but then all the points Alice had brought up started to all make sense "Oh my god, he is a virgin….Oh hell, I must've been making him feel so uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about that, now you know what the problem is you can fix it." Alice grinned.

"But what if he doesn't want to?" Jasiri stressed.

"If he says no, then respect his wishes." Alice simply said "But I'm pretty sure he wants to be with you, I could tell from the way he was looking at you the other day."

"Really?" Jasiri said with hope in her voice "Ok but how do I even start this conversation? I've never taken someone's virginity."

Alice took a sip of her coffee and smiled "Oh my dear girl, maybe a little advice from a certain French bunny can help."

000

Mr Boehm had walked into his office at Bark Feed headquarters ready for another day of non-stop digging for the next big news story but instead found three mammals waiting for him, a white tiger and two chipmunks. When he demanded to know who they were one of the chipmunks simply said that they were from the government but neglected to say what branch, the red panda was irked by this intrusion and told them to get out but in much more colourful language.

"There's no need for profanity sir," Dale urged "we just want your cooperation."

"Unless you show me a warrant I don't have to comply with shit, now get out of my office!" Boehm barked.

"Are you sure? We can make it worth your while." Chip tried to persuade.

"I'm already rich so bribes are useless dickhead." Boehm sniggered.

"I've heard enough this." Ray sighed before rising to feet, the white tiger then made his way over to the now very nervous red panda.

"H-hey, can't we talk about this?" Boehm asked nervously, jumping onto his desk to get out of Ray's path "Do you like Chinese food? My cousin owns a restaurant a few blocks away, let's grab a bite and talk about this."

Boehm then tried to jump on top of his filing cabinet to get away from the tiger but was caught in mid air by the strong white paw, Ray applied a little pressure to Boehm's throat before asking in a irritated voice "The photographer Miss Ojos, who is she?"

Boehm was afraid but there was no way he was going to give up a kid "I d-don't know, she sends all her s-stuff by email." Boehm choked, scratching at Ray's paw trying to break free.

"You're lying, who is she?!" Ray growled, gripping Boehm's throat a little tighter.

Boehm decided he'd rather die than put a kid in harm's way, he flipped the bird with both paws before yelling "Screw you!"

But just then the door to the office opened and in walked Sasha Jones looking at the photos on her SLR screen "Hey boss, I got some cool team cear…" but her voice trailed off and eyes filled with dread as she saw Boehm at the mercy of the white tiger.

Boehm cursed the universe before screaming "Kid, run!"

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Will Sasha be ok? Will Jasiri and Kion ever happen? What's with Ronin's obsession with Luna? What did you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais, Ray learns what happens when you mess with a super hero's little sister, The Maid and Olivia try to figure out what Basil was up to, Nick faces a new kind of evil and Kion is honest with himself. Please review and c ya soon...)


	23. Agape and Eros

(AN/ Hey folks I'm sorry I'm over 24 hours late with this update, I've had a really stressful weekend and also today 'Monday' was the start of my second year of odp training, I've been in a room with AI patient who was having an asthma attack today at it was stressful as hell. Anyway Thank you to the SOC team who helped developed this chapter and also be aware that this is the T version of this chapter with the M version on Tumblr; named aptly- Crewefox. Anyway I'm just rasing a flag here and I have a few family members who are critically ill atm and if i don't update on Sunday you know why. fyi this is the longest chapter yet. Anyway let's get cracking with this chapter..)

 **Chapter 22- Agape and Eros**

Luna wasn't telling a complete lie when she said her and Aleks were staying at one of Olivia's properties, despite staying in the bunker for one night the young couple had been moved in a high-end apartment owned by Olivia not far from the Dawson tech building, she usually used the apartment for housing visiting business partners who weren't fond of hotels. Both foxes had been signed off work for a week by their respective employers to cope with the 'Stress' of being attacked by The Drowned. Luna had gotten in from her patrol around 4am absolutely exhausted from a night of catching criminals, so tired in fact that she just stripped out of her hero uniform and had crawled her naked form into bed beside her boyfriend who was fast asleep.

When Luna did awake around 9am she was pissed off with her body clock for only letting her have five hours sleep, she turned over to find Aleks wasn't in bed with her and huffed in disappointment, he was most likely at the gym. The vixen tried to return to sleep but just couldn't, she gave an annoyed groan as she walked into the en suite bathroom to get a shower.

An hour later Luna had showered, eaten her breakfast and was sat at the dining table replacing the leather ties of her bodice that were sliced by Ronin the night before, while she was threading the sties through the hoops on the garment she looked over at her gold coloured hat that was now missing it's signature red feather and she mumbled "Why'd she steal it?" wondering why on earth the assassin would want the feather in the first place.

At that moment the front door of the apartment opened and in walked Aleks dressed in black gym clothes, his face lit up when he saw his girlfriend "Good morning."

"Hey you." Luna gave a sleepy smile, reaching out a paw as if to say 'Come here'.

Aleks obliged, he walked over and hugged her before kissing her, after ten seconds or so Aleks pulled back and grinned "It was a nice surprise this morning to find a beautiful naked vixen wrapped around me when I awoke."

"Glad you enjoyed it," Luna replied "I was so tired when I got in but my body has to be difficult and not let me sleep in."

"So how did your first patrol go?" Aleks asked, wanting to be supportive.

"Pretty well actually; the team got intel on a gangster, caught a burglar red handed, nabbed a pill dealer outside a nightclub, stopped those jackass Razors raiding another pharmacy," Luna explained before holding up her damaged bodice and adding "then this happened."

"A wardrobe malfunction?" Aleks sniggered.

"A malfunction caused by a samurai sword." Luna revealed in a flat voice.

"What!?" Aleks instantly fretted "Are you ok? Were you hurt? Who did this to you?"

"Relax, I'm fine." Luna calmed "She never set out to kill me, she was gauging my skill."

"But who was it?" Aleks asked, his worries not easing much.

"An assassin, she calls herself Ronin, she attacked Robbie a few days backs, thank god Robbie's immortal because anyone else wouldn't last two minutes against her." Luna elaborated "She could've killed me easily."

"Then why didn't she?" Aleks pondered.

"Easy, she said it'd be stupid to kill me for free when someone will hire her sooner or later to end me." Luna answered nonchalantly "Robbie wants this bunny banged up in a jail cell really bad."

"Wait you lost against a bunny? You're double the size of a rabbit." Aleks observed.

Luna narrowed her eyes and replied "Who was it who saved your ass in the ZPD armoury again? Oh yeah, my Mom who happens to be a bunny."

"Ok, ok, I walked into that one." Aleks conceded, fixing his glasses "But it seems strange for her to pick a fight against two vigilantes."

"That isn't the strangest thing," Luna chuckled innocently "I think she has a crush on me."

"W-what?!" Aleks gasped, the fur of his brush standing on end.

"Yeah she kept on flirting with me, I think she sliced through my bodice just so she could sneak a peek at my chest, oh yeah then she kissed me." Luna listed.

"She kissed you!?" Aleks exclaimed.

Luna looked at Aleks and couldn't help but laugh at the half dumbfounded and half angry expression on his muzzle "Relax, it isn't like I enjoyed it, Ronin won the fight and she wanted a kiss as her prize."

Aleks composed himself before growling in a low voice "That bunny bitch went too far, taking advantage of you like that."

"Aww, are you jealous?" Luna chirped, playfully poking Aleks in the tummy.

"Of course not," Aleks denied "I'm just cross that she hurt you and forced herself on you."

"Aleks you dummy," Luna laughed softly, standing up and ensnaring the silver fox in a hug "you have nothing to worry about, I'm not interested in females or anyone outside my species, the only mammal I'll ever want is you."

"Really?" Aleks asked, his ears going flat against his skull.

"Of course," Luna affirmed "and speaking of which, you're not too tired from the gym are you?"

Aleks dark mood became much sunnier at this suggestion "I'm not tired one bit." He smiled.

"Good." Luna smiled back, taking Aleks by the paw and hastily leading him to the bedroom.

000

The Bunker was pretty lively for so early in the day, Marian was busy typing away at her workstation, Kodi who was supposed to be on a 'Study Day' had come down to the Bunker to help tune up and add modifications to Bella with the help of Robin senior, Olivia was tinkering away in her workshop on a new invention whilst waiting for Marian to finish her investigation into why her Dads were at the Rose Thorn last night and then there was Hannah who had a day off from school due to a teacher training day so she came over to the Bunker to clean her guns, the only problem was finding a relaxing space to do it in.

Ever since she took up competitive shooting at age 10 Hannah had always found cleaning her guns therapeutic and stress relieving, not to say that she didn't enjoy dancing but that activity always made her heart race there were times when she just needed to relax but right now it was hard to chill out, she had began to clean her pistols in the armoury but due to the loud conversation and clanking of tools coming from Kodi and Robin senior just outside working on the truck it was difficult to focus, she sighed picked up her guns and her cleaning tools before making her way to the workshop but stopped before getting halfway when the thundering sound of Olivia's death metal playlist was emanating from the room, there was only place in the entire Bunker that was soundproof and that was observation deck.

Hannah peaked her head around the door, she could sense Marian at her workstation, the click clack of the hacker at her keyboard was much more pleasant than the rest of the sounds in the Bunker "Marian, is it ok if I clean my guns at the meeting table? Everywhere else is kind of noisy." Hannah asked politely

"Of course dear, sit yourself down." Marian answered warmly, spinning in her chair to face the striped hybrid "Let me guess; Robin and Kodi's boring conversation about engines?"

"And Olivia's taste in music." Hannah added, walking and placing her firearms and cleaning kit on the table.

"There is nothing wrong with metal, even though I'm a punk fan myself." Marian noted "But I guess it hurts when you've got super hearing."

"…Yeah, but don't say anything to Olivia please, her music helps her think." Hannah replied timidly.

"My lips are sealed my dear." Marian assured table.

Twenty or so minutes passed in blissful silence bar the sounds of Marian typing at her keyboard and Hannah dismantling her guns and cleaning them (Which she found rather easy despite being unable to see). The hacker was the first to break the silence, Marian was waiting for her computer to analyse some data when she asked "So how are things going at your new school?"

Hannah who was still focused on her task simply answered "Badly."

"It's the brail, isn't it?" Marian guessed "It must be tough to learn a new way of reading."

"You have no idea." Hannah concurred with a telling voice; this was embarrassing for her "I went from being one of the smartest students in high school to the dumbest kid in blind school."

"I'm sorry dear, I really am." Marian sympathised "But, well, if you want a little 'help' maybe Olivia and myself can be of some assistance."

"You two know brail?" Hannah asked in a confused tone.

"No, nothing like that." Marian answered "It's just me and Olivia have been looking at yours and Robyn's steel blood nanomachines and we've discovered a few things."

"Such as?" Hannah asked with a curious tone.

"We've been checking the little bots' locations recently and there is a lot more in your brains than before, specifically the places that control reflexes and store memories." Marian explained "So I may have wrote a program to teach you brail in an instant, think of it as an app on your phone getting a software update."

"Wait, seriously?" Hannah asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I saw how upset you were on your first week of your new school and I just wanted to help." Marian replied, her cool demeanour disappearing and actually sounding like an elder.

Hannah leapt from her chair and wrapped Marian in a hug "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." She squealed before releasing the sixty five year old.

"Easy now, are you sure you want this? I mean we'll be messing with your brain." Marian cautioned.

"Of course, when can we get it done?" Hannah asked eagerly.

"Well Olivia is running the simulations as we speak in the workshop, if those turn out ok then we can get it done as soon as tomorrow." Marian proposed.

"That would be amazing," Hannah gave a content sigh "it's strange the things I've missed since becoming blind, reading a good book is one of them."

Marian looked at the hopeful expression on Hannah's beautiful young face and mindlessly commented "I wish Hannah could've met you."

"Huh?" Hannah sounded.

"Sorry," Marian instantly apologised "I meant your grandmother Hannah; your namesake."

Hannah could only imagine the sad yet nostalgic expression on Marian's face, she could actually smell the salt in small tear welling at the corner of Marian's left eye, even though it was a delicate subject Hannah couldn't help but ask "What was my grandmother like?", it was natural question since Hannah had a total of zero grandparents on both parental lines, no aunts or uncles, no cousins, she supposed that was why the Savages were so close to the Wildes.

"…Your grandmother," Marian sounded a bit mournful but continued "that rabbit was the best friend I ever had, when she died there was a hole left in my heart that has still not healed."

"Well let's start from the top, how did you meet?" Hannah asked inquisitively.

"By complete accident, I was getting rushed out of an electronics store when I landed at your Gran's feet." Marian remembered, she was smiling, not that Hannah could see it.

"Wait, why were you getting kicked out of the store?" Hannah queried, raising an eyebrow.

Marian let out a small laugh then said "Picture this; sixteen year old heavily pregnant vixen tries to get a job at a Hare's electronics store in the 1980s, suffice to say Mammals were a lot more prejudice back then."

"Oh god that's awful," Hannah reacted with a sad expression "and you were pregnant with Nick at the time?"

"Yeah, thank heavens I fell on my back instead of my bump, I was about to start crying but then your Gran just explodes with rage." Marian painted the picture "She parked the pram she was pushing before taking her purse and slamming it across the store manager's skull shouting 'Shame! How dare you! Can't you see she's with child!?' she kicked that Hare's ass so hard I didn't know whether to start crying or burst out laughing."

"She sounds tough." Hannah smiled.

"Oh she was, she took no shit from anyone." Marian remembered "After the Hare had retreated back into his shop your Gran helped me to my feet and asked me if I was ok, I tried to brush it off and act tough but she saw right through me; she saw a terrified sixteen year old kid who wasn't ready to be a mother. She took me under her wing, taught me the basics about caring for a baby and made sure Robin knew he had to do his fair share of looking after Nick when he came along. I remember a few days before I went into labour I asked your Gran why she helped me, she just answered 'You don't need an excuse to help somebody'."

"Am I…Am I like her in anyway? I mean I know we don't look the same but personality wise?" Hannah asked tentatively, it was a question she had wanted to ask for a long time.

Marian let a small chuckle that confused Hannah, she then replied "Temper wise; no. Your Gran was well known for getting angry and scrappy at a moment's notice. But caring wise; most certainly. You have a gentleness in your voice that she had, you are so loving to Robyn, your parents and your friends and I bet one day you'll be the most brilliant mother."

It was Hannah's turn to laugh "Well if I ever adopt I want to be married first and there's only one girl I'd ever want to marry." Hannah then clamped her mouth shut, utterly embarrassed by what she just revealed.

A wide grin appeared on Marian's muzzle before she teased "So you want to marry my granddaughter?"

"No, I mean yes, but a long time from now and only if she wants to." Hannah explained, all flustered.

"A long time from now?" Marian queried "My dear, why do you say that?"

"Well we're just kids, my parents didn't get married until they were well into their thirties, that's normal right?" Hannah asked back.

"In modern times, sure but back in my day teens got married, I mean me and Robin were only sixteen when we got married." Marian countered.

"Is that even legal?" Hannah questioned.

"It depends what state or county you're in, me and Robin got married not long before Nick was born, we just went outside the city limits where the laws are different and got hitched, we'll be fifty years married in a couple of months." Marian answered happily.

"But why are the laws different?" Hannah wondered.

"Um, well, I know this is stereotype but a lot of bunnies live outside the city and back in the olden days when a doe got knocked up it meant a shotgun wedding even if they were young as sixteen, no one ever bothered to change the law." Marian explained.

"Huh…" Hannah sounded, thinking it was weird that as soon as her and Robyn hit sixteen they could actually get married.

"Hannah my dear, come here for a moment," Marian invited, holding out a paw "I want you to know something."

Hannah could hear the seriousness in the vixen's voice so she stood up and walked over and took hold of Marian's outstretched hand, the hacker then guided Hannah's paw to touch a ring with a small single jewel at it's centre "What is that?" Hannah asked.

"It's my engagement ring," Marian informed "I want you to know that if anything should happen to me…"

"Don't talk like that!" Hannah forced.

"Relax I'm not planning on dying," Marian eased "but I want you to know that I'm leaving this ring to you if I kick the bucket, however if you want it sooner to propose to Robyn you just have to ask."

"M-Me and Robyn are nowhere near that stage yet." Hannah ensured with a nervy voice.

"Ok," Marian accepted "But just keep it mind. And if you ever think you're too young just look at me and Robin, we got married at sixteen."

Hannah was about to respond with a shy thank you when the rodent sized elevator near the computer terminal opened and out walked Olivia sucking on a lollipop as usual "Hey." She simply greeted.

"Hey, yourself." Marian directed at the engineer "So how did the Steel Blood upgrade test go?"

"It's been running since first thing this morning, I'll get the results in a few hours." Olivia answered, flopping down on the tiny desk chair on top of the terminal.

"So what have you been doing in your lab all this time?" Marian asked, she wouldn't be surprised if the little Scottish mouse hadn't raided her candy supply and gone on a major sugar rush.

"Working on some new tech for the team; voice modifiers." Olivia answered, sounding proud of herself "Ever since Luna's penthouse got attacked I couldn't help thinking what would happen if any of our loved ones noticed our voices. I've got the prototypes ready for tonight's patrol."

"That's great Olivia." Hannah smiled, she hadn't even considered the possibility of running into her parents whilst she was in her 'Bullet' guise.

Olivia quickly changed the subject and asked Marian "So did you figure out why my Dads were at the Rose Thorn?"

"Well I'm just cross referencing some data at the moment but I'm pretty sure about the pattern I'm seeing," Marian told "it seems the program that Basil used to try and hack the club's cameras was old but not that well known, it looks like the program was written over twenty years ago."

"And you've seen this program before?" Olivia questioned.

"Yep, a few times. In the hacker community we always joked how sloppy this program was but the only guy who used it was a white hat so we let him continue." Marian elaborated.

"A white hat?" Hannah asked, unsure of the terminology.

"It's a kind of good guy hacker who brings down corrupt people. Anyway we nicknamed this guy 'The Detective' he brought down many criminals but he always seemed to target Rattigan the most." Marian laid out "What I'm trying to say is that Basil is 'The Detective' and he's been trying to bring Rattigan down for nearly two decades."

Olivia let this sink in, the cogs of her mind turning as she tried to process all this, Basil was some sort of tech vigilante and David was his partner in crime, the sweet and seemingly perfect couple were actually fought crime from the shadows "Ugh, I've got a headache thinking about all this." She groaned.

"You sure that isn't all the sugar you've consumed?" Hannah gave a coy smile.

Olivia ignored the jibe and pressed on "So why have my Dads been targeting Rattigan specifically?"

"I have no idea." Marian admitted "That part you'll have to find out on your own."

Olivia buried her face in her paws and let out another loud groan before saying "Why can't my life be simple for o-"

Suddenly a loud claxon was heard all throughout the Bunker cutting off Olivia's words, Hannah stood up in alarm and asked loudly "What is that?"

"That's the SOS alarm, one of us is in trouble!" Marian panicked, turning around and typing away at the computer, within a few seconds the screen was lit up with a map of Zootopia and a moving red dot, beside it was a portrait photo of Sasha Jones "It's Sasha? Wait when did she get a SOS button?"

"I gave it to her when she came to the Bunker," Olivia said hastily "it's on her camera."

At that moment Robin senior and Kodi barged into the observation deck with the teen wolf's face dropping as soon as he saw it was his sister's photo on screen "Sasha." He whispered, his stomach churning with fear.

000

Sasha had managed to escape Boehm's office, she scrambled through the main floor weaving between the other journalists as the brute of a white tiger chased her, she got to the stairwell and raced down them, making sure to press the SOS button that Olivia had given her in case anything like this happened, she made it to the ground level of the building and rushed out the main entrance then she felt a sting in her upper left arm, she looked down to see a tranq dart embedded in her flesh, she tried to call for help but the words never came from her mouth, everything just went black.

The young photographer awoke with a dry mouth, pounding headache and blurred vision. It took her a few seconds to remember what had happened; it felt like she was sat on a chair with her arms restrained behind her, she could hear voices bickering. Sasha tried to focus her eyes on her surroundings; she could see four mammals in black tactical gear wielding sub machine guns spaced around the room, she looked up to see a large skylight which was pretty dirty, she then found the source of the irked voices; the burly white tiger was arguing with two chipmunks who were stood atop of a table, one of the rodents was pressing buttons on an object larger than himself, it was Sasha's SLR camera.

"We have to let her go!" Ray argued "She's one of Gazelle's children, this is not one of those situations we can keep quiet."

"I don't care if she's the President's daughter," Chip squeaked "she's has intelligence of a top secret government project so we're going to question her."

"But she's a kid, I thought you were just going to get her camera not abduct her. Let's just take the memory card and let her go." The British tiger reasoned.

Dale who had cycling through the pictures on the digital screen of the camera looked up at Ray and added "There's no pictures of Priderock on this memory card only those Ceartais freaks, like it or not we're going to have to interrogate her."

"This doesn't feel right." Ray voiced his discomfort.

Sasha was waking up a little more, her vision becoming clearer and was locked on her camera "M-my camera." She croaked, her mouth was very dry.

"Aw bollocks," Ray cursed before saying to Sasha "Don't worry Miss Jones we're not going to hurt you."

Sasha didn't hear Ray, all that she wanted at that moment was her camera "My camera!" she repeated but a little louder, her face looked full of fright.

"You can have it back as soon as you answer our questions Miss Jones." Chip said sternly, however with his high pitched voice it wasn't that intimidating.

"MY CAMERA!" Sasha screamed at the top her lungs, startling everyone in the room, tears were streaming from the girl's eyes and her breathing was becoming fast and shallow.

"Answer our questions and you can have it." Dale reiterated.

Sasha began to cry and breath quickly, she was hyperventilating and her body was trembling. Ray spotted this and figured out what was going on right away; he had seen enough servicemen and women with PTSD to know an anxiety attack as soon as he saw it. "Gentlemammals we need to give her camera bacl." Ray said forcefully, not wanting the teen to suffer.

"Have you gone soft Kamino? What happened to the guy who choked that red panda back there?" Chip coaxed.

"That's different, he was an adult." Ray stressed

"MY CAMERA, GIVE ME MY CAMERA!" Sasha blasted, her breathing become more worrisome every second.

"Please, look at her!" Ray implored.

"She's faking." Dale shrugged off.

Ray ignored the two government agents and snatched the camera from the table to the protests of the two chipmunks before gently placing the strap of the camera over the girl's head and letting the camera rest on her panting chest "There you go." Ray said softly.

Almost immediately Sasha began to calm down, her breathing began to slow and she stopped shaking "My…camera." She breathed, still crying.

"Miss Jones we're sorry for scaring you." Ray said sincerely, crouching in front of her so they were eye level "We just need to ask you a few ques-"

Suddenly all the lights went out in the room, leaving only the skylight to illuminate the sparse space. Ray instinctively looked up to the skylight knowing that was the likely entry point for an attack put instead got sent to the floor with a thwack by a trio of punches to the face by an invisible force, in a daze Ray looked up to where the punches had come from to see nothing but out of the empty space a figure of a masked wolf came into view with a magician's wand in one paw and a playing card in the other. "The Mage?" Ray asked aloud, putting a paw to his saw jaw.

"The one and only." Mage responded, his voice cold as ice.

"Mage!" Sasha panted, despite being scared out of her wits she still had enough sense not to call her brother by his real name.

Mage kept his eyes on the floored Ray but said in a gentle tone "Just hold tight Sasha, I'm going to get you out of here."

"Don't move!" Chip yelled with his tiny sidearm drawn, the sub machine gun toting operatives had their aim rested on Mage.

"I'll make this simple; you either let me walk out of her with Sasha or you're going to be in for a world of hurt." Mage stated, his voice having no trace of his usual playful manner.

"How dumb are you? We've got five guns on you." Dale scoffed, feeling so confident that he hadn't even pulled out his own gun.

Mage used the HUD in his mask to identify all electronics in the room, he could easily just overload the electrics but Sasha may get hurt doing this, he then spotted all the foes bar Ray had a comm receiver in their ears, Mage twirled his wand in his right paw before shouting "OO-DA-LALLY!" with a flick of the wand a deafening electric squeal seared through the operative's comms causing them to grab their ears with pain, as soon as their aim was off Mage the skylight shattered and down came Spitfire and Bullet. The Mech immediately grabbed onto Sasha and flew her out of the now open skylight while Bullet and Mage took care of business, the young wolf threw a flashbang card in front of two operatives whilst they were struggling to get their earpieces out causing their senses to go into further distress, Mage took advantage a knocked one out with a kick to the jaw and another with a swift sleeper card before scooping up both Chip and Dale in one paw, the chipmunks were still dazed from the sound blast and the flash bang. Bullet had quickly shot the remaining two operatives square between the eyes before taking on Ray. The white tiger swiped one claw downwards at the oncoming vigilante, while readying his pistol with the other, Bullet twirled out of the way of the claw gracefully and heard Ray flick the safety off his gun. Within milliseconds Ray fired a shot that Bullet dodged with ease, she used the metal tether that connected her twin pistols to swing one gun like a Morningstar into Ray's face, while he was stunned Bullet quickly wrapped the tether around the wrist Ray was holding his gun in, she pulled tight causing Ray to let out a growl as the metal cut through his fur and skin, Bullet then slammed her foot into Ray's crotch causing him to wail in pain and send his gun flying, Hannah grabbed his sidearm and like a flash she unloaded the magazine and emptied the chamber before throwing in front of Ray who was now on his knees holding onto his family jewels, the fight was over and Team Ceartais had won again.

"Kicking a bloke in the balls isn't very honourable." Ray wheezed, looking up at Bullet who had both her pistols aimed at his head.

"And kidnapping a young girl is?" Kodi bellowed, still holding onto the struggling chipmunks "Your lucky I don't chop them off, you peado piece of shit."

"It isn't like that!" Ray protested "We just wanted some information from her."

"Finally some honesty." A synthesised voice spoke, everyone who was still awake looked up at the Skylight to see Spitfire descending once again

"Where's Sasha?" Mage asked, his voice stressed.

"She's with Bella, don't worry." Spitfire assured.

Ray looked on in awe at the mech, as did Chip and Dale, but it was the RAF ace who spoke first "So you're the famous Spitfire."

"And you're the infamous flight lieutenant Ray Kamino." Spitfire replied, inside the mech Olivia was looking down upon the Camelot operative with disgust.

"How did-" Ray began.

"Do I know about you?" Spitfire interrupted "You'd be surprised what I know; that your part of a joint US-UK black ops unit named 'Camelot', that you've conducted illegal missions on both British and American soil and that you're looking for Sergeant Kiara Priderock."

Chip and Dale exchanged worried looks while Ray just simmered "You were there the night Kiara disappeared, the night of the wave."

"Yes I was. She was in the middle of robbing a Phelps arms facility." Spitfire reminded.

"They stole an important item from the US government." Dale hollered.

"Which you stole from Dawson Tech's development labs in Scotland." Bullet fired back, she couldn't see their dumbfounded expressions but knew deep down that they were making them "We have eyes and ears everywhere."

"Look we just want to find Kiara," Ray cut in "Sasha Jones is the only mammal who has seen her alive, we just want her to be safe."

"And experiment on her and keep her as a drone once you've fixed her elixir system?" Spitfire accused.

"No!" Ray rejected "I don't care about that, I just want her back…" the feline's face grew mournful before he whispered "she can't be dead."

Mage was not a mammal prone to hating someone but these assholes who had hurt his baby sister had made him experience hate for the first time in years, even though he had this feeling he couldn't help but say "She's alive."

"Huh?" Chip and Dale sounded in unison.

"Kiara, I saw her a few days ago, she was in Elixir mode, but it was definitely her." Mage revealed, cursing himself for giving the scumbags hope.

Ray's eyes went big at this revelation "How? Where!?" he begged to know

"She was being attacked by an assassin named Ronin," Bullet informed "after The Mage and Scarlet stopped the assassin attacking, Kiara ran off towards Sahara square, we lost track of her."

"…She's out there." Ray breathed a sigh of relief.

"So Ronin IS in Zootopia, just like we thought." Dale summarized.

"You're missing the issue here Dale!" Chip scolded "These vigilantes have attacked agents of the united states government, they're all going down."

"Is that so?" Bullet asked in a calm voice.

"Just you wait, the hunt for you freaks will swift and brutal, you'll rot in a state pen for years." Chip threatened.

"Well you see we're considered heroes and plus our identities are secret," Mage stated "besides you shouldn't be worrying about us, you all should be worrying about yourselves."

"What do you mean?" Dale asked, eyeing the wolf with suspicion.

Spitfire stepped forward and told bluntly "Sasha's camera had a special SOS button on it to contact us but also to record everything around her, imagine the headlines when the press get's wind of the US government kidnapping the daughter of a famous pop star."

"And then there's all the other evidence against Camelot," Bullet remembered "cctv of the raids in Zootopia and in Scotland, conducting illegal missions and stealing medical tech then turning it into weapons."

"We've got it all ready to go," Mage carried on "if anything happens to us, all that evidence will be all over the news."

"…Bloody hell." Ray conceded, shaking his head.

"So what do you want?" Chip asked, knowing that the team of heroes desired something.

"We both want Kiara safe," Spitfire answered "if we work together we find her."

"What do you propose?" Ray queried.

"That we hold a meeting, Camelot and Ceartais, if we can reach an agreement and pool our resources we may find Kiara quicker." Spitfire offered.

"And in return?" Ray questioned.

"Finding Kiara is the main priority but if you can help us take down The Drowned it would be a bonus." Spitfire stipulated.

"And why should we help you?" Dale asked, clearly unhappy.

"You guys stop terrorists right? These are domestic terrorists, help us stop them." Bullet urged.

Before either of the Chipmunks could replied, Ray asked with surety in his voice "When and where do you want to discuss this alliance?"

"11.30PM tomorrow night, in the ruins of the old Fishtown market in Tundra town, no snipers or funny business, we clear?" Spitfire gave the conditions.

"Fine." Ray nodded "We'll be there."

"Kamino, you can't just-" Chip started

"This is the best way to find Kiara." Ray affirmed, soon as he finished this sentence Mage set the Chipmunks back on the table before mumbling "Evanescet." Then disappeared into thin air while Bullet locked onto Mage's arm and both flew out through the broken skylight. Ray didn't care that his jaw or his lower half was hurting all her cared about was Kiara and knowing for certain she was alive gave this grizzled killer a brief moment of joy.

000

Alana Clearwater had taken to her new job as assistant mayor like a duck to water, she was a natural, she got stuff done and never stood for anyone short-changing the citizens of Zootopia. With the help of Nick, in the brief time at city hall they had gotten one hundred families out of the wave towns across the city and into actual homes, reopened three schools and finalized the clean up crew contracts. And right now the deer stepped out of her office having successfully secured another deal "I can't thank you enough Mr and Mrs Gabor, you both have hearts of gold." She complimented the two philanthropic mice; Bianca and Bernard Gabor founders of the Rescue Aid Society.

"But of course, darling. It's the least we can do." Bianca replied with a smile, the glamourous mouse looked radiant and fashionable for being in her early seventies. "That land we owned was going to no use anyway, to donate it for the Wave memorial site is perfect."

"And we can keep on sending food and water to the Wave towns to help out the city." Bernard insisted, the brown mouse had got a little pudgier in his older years but he was still wearing his signature flat cap.

"Thank you both so much." Alana said sincerely, looking down at the tiny mammals with massive hearts.

"You and mayor Wilde are doing such good jobs, no wonder you two ran unopposed in the election." Bernard commented happily.

"Where is Nick anyway? I hope he isn't leaving you to do all the work darling." Bianca joked.

"He's in a meeting with Chief Wilde, they need to discuss the police budget for the next year and that's way too boring for my tastes." Alana answered, nodding over at Nick's office across the hall.

"Oh I see, well good luck Alana, see you at the charity auction." Bernard bid farewell, walking hand in hand with Bianca to the elevator. The doe looked at the elderly couple as they walked away, hoping that her and her boyfriend Bailey would be like that someday; grow old together and still do cute things like hold hands. She let the image rest in her mind for a moment before looking at her watch, it was 11.34 am, she knew that she and Nick had a joint meeting at 11.40 and that he would've finished the budget talks with Judy half an hour ago, she figured that Nick would be probably having a brief respite and playing on his phone.

Alana trotted over to Nick's office and opened the unlocked door expecting to find Nick sat at his desk messing on his phone…but this was not the case. Chief Judy Wilde was still in the office; bent over the desk her bottom half naked with Nick behind with one paw on Judy's hips and the other grabbing her long velvety ears as he thrust into her. "Dig your claws in!" Judy demanded, her face radiating her bliss.

"Fine, you asked for it, you dumb bunny!" Nick panted with a grin, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth in a very canine manner.

Alana wasn't startled, she was just trying her best to suppress her laughter as he cleared her throat, grabbing the married couple's attention, both of them froze and looked at Alana with utter alarm as she said "Sorry to bother you two but Nick we have a meeting in five minutes, so if you could wrap this up that would be great." Before closing the door and letting the hysteria ensue,

Alana waited outside the door and heard the resulting frenzied conversation while trying to stop herself from bursting out laughing. "You didn't lock the door!?" Nick exclaimed.

"I thought you did!" Judy countered.

"Aww crap, what time is it?…crap, it's nearly 11.40." Nick fretted, the sound of the jingling of Nick fastening his belt could be heard through the door.

"Why do you have to be so god damn handsome?" Judy bickered "If looked a little more ugly this would never happen."

"Hey I'm not the one who stopped the budget meeting and pulled down my pants to give me a blowjob." Nick fired back.

"I didn't hear you complaining slick," Judy joked before asking "sweet cheese and crackers, where are my panties?"

"Um, here, sorry." Nick said sheepishly.

"Damn it Nick, again? Why do you always rip my underwear to shreds?" Judy asked rhetorically "Looks like I'm going commando…again."

That was it; that's all Alana could handle before laughing out hysterically, and that laughter could be heard by Chief and Mayor Wilde, a few moments later the two opened the door, fully clothed but heavily creased and wearing matching embarrassed expressions. Judy looked up at Alana and awkwardly smiled "Sorry about that, it's just, uh, well…"

"You're two mammals in love, you don't need to explain." Alana chuckled "Although maybe next time make sure the door is locked."

"Right." Judy replied with droopy ears and her cheeks burning, she looked up at Nick "I'll see you at home, love you." She then gifted a short but sweet kiss to her love's lips before pulling away.

"Love you too, Carrots." Nick smiled, watching as the embarrassed Judy hurried away to the elevator. He then looked up at Alana who was grinning from ear to ear, he sighed then said "Quit it with that look." Before walking back into the office and cracking open a window.

"You have to admit it's pretty funny." Alana teased.

"Yeah, yeah, it's hilarious." Nick responded, going to his desk and plonking himself in the comfy chair "So who's this next meeting with?"

"It's apparently the head of a company who wants to do business with the city, some guy called…" Alana began to explain but then a firm knock at the door halted her.

"Come in." Nick instructed.

Nick's personal bodyguard, Ben, poked his head around the door "Mayor Wilde there's a gentlemammal here to see you, he's passed all the security checks."

"Thank you Baxter." Nick said deliberately "Show him in."

Ben ignored the insult and opened the door to reveal a male Moose, in his late fifties and dressed in grey suit with a pale blue shirt with a matching tie, he wore an impressed look as he said "Nick Wilde and Alana Clearwater, I've heard a lot of things about you."

"I don't believe we've met Mr?" Nick greeted back while Ben exited the office and guarded the door from the other side.

"Phelps, Eustice Phelps, I'm the owner of Phelps arms." Phelps introduced himself, walking over and shaking Alana's hoof before going over and showing the same manners to Nick.

"I'm a little surprised that you want expand your business in this city given the damage to your existing plants in the wave." Alana commented, having a niggling feeling that something wasn't right about this moose.

"Yes it was tragic, I lost thirteen employees that night but Zootopia has always been a great place for manufacturing, with good railways and ports nearby it's easy to transport our products worldwide." Phelps eased in.

Nick's ears pricked up at Phelps mannerisms, he had been a cop for seventeen years but he had been a hustler much longer; his gut was telling him Phelps was after something, so he decided to call him out on it "So what exactly can we help you with?"

"It's not how you can help me, it's how can I help Zootopia." Phelps replied, trying to be charming.

"How?" Alana asked, her suspicion clear in her voice.

"You see I want to expand my plant in the Canal District and build a new plant in Sahara Square, it could generate thousands of jobs for all those poor jobless mammals in the wave tones." Phelps attempted to bait.

"How generous," Nick replied with a straight face "and I'm sensing you want something in return?"

"Oh you see right through me," Phelps jested, despite being irritated by Nick and Alana's bluntness "you see the California governor is up for re-election this year and he's set to win, word is the President is eyeing him for the cabinet, most likely as the secretary of defence."

"Where do we fit into this?" Alana cut to the chase.

"In laments terms it's this; if you whisper in the Governor's ear that Phelps arms wants to expand in California that could make things a lot easier for me, he'll set up new defence contracts, I'll get tax cuts for providing an essential service to the nation and in return Zootopia's citizens get jobs, everybody wins." Phelps explained before snatching a pen and a post it notepad from Nick's desk and scribbling something down quickly "Oh and of course you'll be rewarded for your assistance to your country." Phelps held up the post it note for Nick and Alana to see, '$1,000,000 each'

Nick and Alana didn't show any emotion, they both shared a glance and instantly knew they were on the same page. Nick took a deep breath before saying "Alana did I ever tell the max sentence for attempting to bribe a public official?"

Phelps smile vanished as Alana answered in a monotone voice "No Nick, you didn't."

"It's one hundred grand for each attempt and a total of five years in jail." Nick quoted, enjoying watching Phelp's expression turn sour "Now remind me Alana, what is the job of my beautiful wife Judy?"

"She's the chief of police at precinct 1." Alana answered, folding her arms across her abdomen and aiming a judging look at Phelps.

"Ah yes, my memory isn't what it used to be." Nick added, using an old trick of his mother's "So Mr Phelps let's just say I'll forget this little conversation and you get the hell out of here, sound good?"

Phelps stood and sniggered "You two really are new to politics, you'll see soon enough that this is how government works, doing one another favours."

"Cut the shit," Alana sassed "get out of here."

Phelps walked to the door while saying "You two should think about my offer, soon enough the mammals who voted you in will be asking where are all the jobs you promised."

"Goodbye Mr Phelps." Nick said sternly, knowing that this wouldn't be the last time he'd run into scum like him.

000

Kion and Robyn finished school for the day and soon found out what had transpired between half of Team Ceartais and the shadowy figures of Camelot. Robyn had first been angry for Sasha getting abducted but was soon enthralled by the tale of how Bullet, Mage and Spitfire handled the situation. But as for Kion, he didn't know how to feel at the moment, on one hand he was happy to hear from Hannah that Ray seemed genuinely concerned about Kiara's wellbeing but on the other hand he was worried about the rest of Camelot's intentions for Kiara. These thoughts had been weighing heavy on the eighteen year old's mind even during his nightly patrol with Mage, so much so that he left his 2am snack in his fridge back at the apartment. He had told Mage his predicament and the trickster wolf agreed to swing by Kion's apartment so he pick up his meal.

It was a little after midnight when Kion opened the door to his apartment and walked wearing his 'Roar' costume but not in elixir mode with Kodi close behind looking around the apartment cautiously "Are you sure your roommate isn't here?" he was in his full Mage get up.

"Jasiri's working the night shift at the convenience store, she had to go in last minute because one of the workers didn't show." Kion explained, guiding Kodi into the kitchen.

"Hey about teasing you yesterday, I'm sorry." Kodi said genuinely "Me and the others shouldn't have thrown all those questions at you."

"It's ok, I know you guys weren't being mean." Kion accepted the apology, going over to the fridge and retrieving his very healthy seafood salad resting in a tubaware box. "It wasn't like you were wrong."

"You mean you like this girl?" Kodi asked, trying to be gentle.

"…Yeah, but it's hard, you know?" Kion responded, closing the fridge door.

"How is it hard?" Kodi queried.

"I'm not like you; I can't flirt, I'm not suave and I'm not confident." Kion pitied himself.

"So?" Kodi replied, resting on the kitchen island "I do this confident lady killer routine because I'm idiot who doesn't know how to do anything else. Trust me Big Guy, I'm not an example to follow."

Kion turned to Kodi and asked "Then who's example should I follow?"

"Dude, the only example you need to follow is your own," Kodi advised, grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl on the kitchen island and shining it on his jacket "you're one of the coolest guys I know."

"Pfft, yeah right; I was the token dork on the football team, every time a cheerleader flirted with me I'd freak out. Can I ask you something?" Kion requested.

Kodi took a bite of his apple before replying with a full mouth "Go ahead."

"You're not a virgin are you? Like, you don't lie about it like most guys at school." Kion asked, sounding shy.

"No, I'm not a virgin." Kodi answered honestly.

Kion hung his head and groaned "See I'm never going to be like you."

"Why would you want to be me?" Kodi flung back "You're awesome the way you are, so what if you haven't had sex yet? Who gives a shit? You're Kion Priderock, one of my best friends and an awesome mammal and whoever you date will be lucky to have you."

"…Thanks dude." Kion smiled at his friend.

"Ok, so let's quit this agony aunt crap and beat up some bad guys." Kodi smiled, taking another bite of his apple.

"Sounds like a plan." Kion agreed, he began walking out of the kitchen when a familiar figure appeared in the doorway.

Jasiri Outlander was stood in a set of black PJs and holding a mug of camomile tea with the words 'Here's a cup of calm the f$%k down', but when she laid eyes on Kion and Kodi in his Mage uniform her jaw just dropped and so did the mug of tea.

Kion who was stressed beyond belief within a moment had managed to move past his shock and quickly catch the mug before it smashed on the kitchen tiles, with his body on autopilot he put the mug on the kitchen island and returned to his state of silent panic.

"Kion?" Jasiri spoke, her eyes darting between the distinct shorts with the 'ROAR' belt buckle Kion was wearing and the super hero 'Mage' standing in her kitchen.

"I-I thought you were working the night shift…" Kion garbled, trying to figure a way out of this situation.

"Um, Gabe showed up eventually, his car broke down on the way to the store." Jasiri felt obliged to explain, despite her mind being filled with the one blaring thought _'KION IS ROAR!'_

There was about ten seconds of silence before Kodi finally spoke up sounding awkward as hell "You know what? I'm going to leave you to discuss, uh, 'this'. It was nice to meet you to Jasiri, you have a lovely home." Kodi then slunk out of the kitchen while giving a small nervous wave.

Jasiri didn't even bother looking at Kodi as he exited the apartment, her eyes were fixated upon the equally panicky Kion "Uh, bye Mage." She said quietly just before the front door closed leaving the two roommates alone.

Kion was the first to speak "Jasiri, I…I" but it turned out he didn't have a lot to say, what could he say? He had been caught red pawed and there was no feasible way to get out of it.

"…It makes so much sense now." Jasiri uttered "Your mystery job, you going out in the middle of the night, how I don't know anything about your friends…it's because you're Roar."

Kion saw no use in denying it, he breathed in deep and confessed "Yes."

Jasiri shocked the Lion by turning on her heel and marching back into the living room "This isn't how tonight was supposed to go." She babbled, shuffling over to the record player and resting her paws on top of it.

"Wait what do you mean?" Kion asked, following Jasiri like a lost kitten.

"No, no, no, this isn't right." She told herself, messing with her purple streaked mane atop of her head "I wanted tonight to be about…not this."

"Jasiri." Kion sounded worried and confused.

"Kion," The spotted hyena said before turning around to be face to face with the feline "I wanted to tell you some things tonight, and I think you want to tell me some things as well."

"Yeah…" Kion confessed and he wasn't meaning his powers.

"One night." Jasiri said, stepping closer and taking hold of Kion's paw "for one night I don't want to know about Roar or your other life, I want to know Kion Priderock."

Kion was tired of mentally berating himself that there was no way Jasiri could ever be interested in him, but with the words he was hearing and the way she was looking at him, Kion was willing to hope. Kion looked down at the smaller paw gripping his and pushed aside his self doubt and revealed "I like you Jasiri, more than a friend." As soon as he said the words he felt the skin of cheeks heat up, hardly believing he spoke the words.

"I like you too." Jasiri responded with a look of relief on her muzzle, with her spare paw she placed it on Kion's jaw before standing on her tip toes, closing her eyes and connecting her lips with the jittery lion.

Kion's heart was ablaze, his mind went blank and all he could feel at this moment was Jasiri's soft lips, he could taste the camomile tea she had been drinking minutes and cherished the sensation of his lips on hers.

Jasiri pulled back from the kiss to find a surprised look on Kion's face causing her to ask "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, it's just that was my f-first kiss." Kion stuttered, unable to look away from the hyena's face.

Jasiri was shocked by this but didn't want to embarrass the teen more than she had to do, she pushed Kion backward until he fell back on the sofa before falling atop of his broad chest and whispering "Well are you ready for your second?"

"Yeah…" Kion breathed, he hungered for another kiss, which Jasiri gave gladly, this one was longer and Jasiri was overjoyed to hear a low joyful purr emanating from the big cat as they kissed. Kion was getting lost in the kiss, he was more confused than ever that some mammals referred to a kiss as 'Nothing' because it felt like heaven for him, he had snaked his arms around Jasiri while they were kissing and by sheer urge his paws travelled south and groped her butt. Kion's eyes snapped open as soon as he touched her behind, he removed his paws hastily and quickly retreated from the kiss whilst babbling "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I-I didn't ask if that was ok."

"Kion." Jasiri said warmly, loving the flustered look on his face "It's alright, you don't have to worry."

"I'm sorry," Kion apologised again "it's just well…you've probably already guessed but since I've never kissed anyone before I've never…you know."

Jasiri gazed at the mix of nervousness, excitement and slight lust displayed on Kion's expression and found herself getting excited but she knew she had to be gentle and considerate and those intentions came clear through her words "Listen, I'll put it simply; I want to have sex with you, I want us to share a magical night together. But, and please remember this, if you want to stop at any time just say so, it won't change anything, I'll still like you and if you want to wait, we'll wait."

Kion felt like crying for some reason, she really was like an angel, he processed her words and replied in the steadiest voice he could manage "I don't want to wait." Before pulling Jasiri into another kiss.

A floor below Kion and Jasiri's place Alice Kirabito was sitting on her sofa watching an old samurai movie on TV when she heard distinct hyena laughing and the rampant roar of a lion. Alice raised her glass of red wine to the ceiling before smiling "Have fun, young lovers.", she then turned up the TV's volume and continued to drink her wine.

(AN/ Quick update, so no spoilers, now hints and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!)


	24. Queens, Knights and Pawns

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais. Thank you majorly to all the SOC development team who helped create this chapter and massive thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last update. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 23- Queens, Knights and Pawns.**

"So this is what makes you turn into Roar?" Jasiri mused, touching the Elixir Drug System just above Kion's tail.

"Yeah, then all I have to do is make myself turn." Kion explained, both of them were in Jasiri's bedroom, sprawled naked on her bed with the early morning sunrise illuminating the room.

Jasiri moved from Kion's back and wrapped both her arms and legs around her lover "I still can't believe timid little you is the big bad Roar." She commented, nuzzling under Kion's chin.

"Roar isn't bad, I'm a good guy remember?" Kion corrected, cuddling Jasiri back.

"You know most kids are scared of you right?" Jasiri chuckled "I hear schoolkids at the convenience store talking about their favourite super heroes, they say you're the toughest but the scariest."

"So who's the most popular hero?" Kion asked, cherishing the feeling of the spotted hyena's body against his.

"Spitfire." Jasiri answered simply.

"Figures; she has been around the longest." Kion shrugged.

"She?" Jasiri queried, sounding confused "Isn't it a robot?"

"Uhhhhhhh…" Kion sounded, cursing himself for letting slip a vital piece of info.

Jasiri pulled back ever so slightly from the hug and guessed "It's a mammal inside a machine right? Like a mech anime?"

"…Yeah." Kion confirmed reluctantly.

"Hmmm." Jasiri gave a mischievous look while leaning over to her nightstand and picking up her phone and proceeded to start typing away at it.

"What are you doing?" Kion asked in a puzzled manner, wanting to get back to hugging.

"Looking at your furbook page." Jasiri smiled.

"Why?" Kion asked once more.

He didn't get an answer, instead he got an "Ah-ha!", Jasiri's tail starting wagging excitedly as she showed her phone to Kion, on the screen was a group selfie photo of himself, Hannah, Robyn and Kodi jammed together.

"It's me and my friends, what's your point?" Kion wondered where this was going.

Jasiri had a smug look on her face before pointing at the figures in the photo and "That ginger hare is The Undying Scarlet, the striped fox is Bullet and that wolf is definitely the same guy I saw in our kitchen last night."

Kion gave a blank stare and voiced the single thought he had in his head "…shit."

Jasiri let out a distinct hyena laugh "I don't know what's funnier, me guessing super hero identities or hearing you swear."

"Please Jasiri, don't tell…" Kion couldn't form the right words with the stress of a secret exposed and her intoxicating laughter that he loved.

"Easy kitten," Jasiri cooed, leaning over and nibbling Kion's ear playfully "I'm not going to say a word."

Kion actually felt fuzzy inside at being called 'Kitten', he hoped that this would be a regular name, however he felt the need to correct his lover "Two things; Robyn isn't a hare she's a hybrid with a rabbit mom and fox dad. And Hannah's a hybrid as well, just with a fox for a mom and rabbit for a dad."

Jasiri looked perplexed by this info and theorised "So one's a Funny and the other is a Box?"

"Pretty much," Kion concurred "they're such a cute couple."

"They're dating? Awwww, they must be so adorable." Jasiri gushed "Wait a sec isn't that a cane in Bullet's hand?"

"Her name's Hannah, and yeah she's blind." Kion confirmed.

"But she's Bullet, she has a perfect aim, everyone knows that." Jasiri debated.

"And yet she's blind, it's her superpower." Kion grinned.

"Whoa." Jasiri muttered quietly before asking "So, do you fight crime every night?"

"No," Kion answered "we have a shift system, I've only got to attend a meeting tonight then I'm back home…with you."

Jasiri let out a small hyena laugh before shyly saying "Will my big strong kitten miss his girlfriend?"

"G-girlfriend!?" Kion choked.

"Sorry! I shouldn't have assumed! If you want to keep it casual that's fine." Jasiri retracted, showing her rare uncertainty.

"No, it's just…you really want a date a mammal like me?" Kion asked, showing his own vulnerability.

"Why wouldn't I? Kion, I like you, I really like you." Jasiri told from the heart "I want to be with you."

Kion's soul soared with that sentence and yet he still babbled like an utter fool "I-I want to be that, I mean, a boyfriend I mean…your boyfriend."

Jasiri saw the jitters in the lion's expression and leaned in with a kiss, after ten or so seconds she ended the smooch and replied kindly "And I'm your girlfriend."

Kion had a dreamy look in his eyes but over Jasiri's shoulder and her alarm clock reading '07.46' "No, I'm going to be late for school!" He freaked, hopping out of the bed.

Jasiri gave an amused look as the lion darted out of the room and into his own bedroom to hastily get dressed, the spotted hyena got out of bed herself and covered herself with a dressing gown before walking into the living room around the same time Kion came scrambling out of his room dressed in a plain white t shirt and dark jeans combo with his backpack on his shoulder "Ugh, my teacher is going to chew me out, this will be the second time I've been late this week." Kion worried.

"You better get running then." Jasiri encouraged, going over to the front door and unlocking it "I'll see you tonight."

Kion wanted to stay and spend the entire day in her company but real life had to be a pain, he kissed her softly while opening the door but before he even ended the kiss he heard a surprised voice say "Oh my."

The new couple looked down to the source of the voice and found the happy face of Alice, holding a large plate "H-hey Alice." Kion greeted shyly to his downstairs neighbour.

"I'm interrupting, I'm sorry, I'll come back later." Alice tried to excuse herself.

"No, don't go, Kion was just leaving for school." Jasiri reacted, kissing Kion on the cheek "See you later, Kitten."

Kion smiled at his girlfriend then exited the apartment and jogged to the stairwell, when the broad-shouldered Feline was out of sight Alice spoke up "I finished that lovely cake you made, here's your plate back." Holding up the piece of crockery.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, come on in, I'll make us some tea." Jasiri invited, stepping aside to let the rabbit in.

"Merci." Alice thanked, Jasiri closed the door and led her tenant to her kitchen, Alice tried to reserve herself but had to say "So it looks like you took my advice."

Jasiri grabbed the kettle and filled it up while mischievously smiling "Well observed."

"I didn't need to observe, I could hear you two making sweet music last night." Alice grinned back, pointing to her long lapin ears. "I'm surprised you pair didn't break the bed."

Jasiri let out a hyena laugh then replied "Hope we didn't keep you up all night." She then turned the kettle on and put two fruit tea bags in two mugs.

"Thank heavens for earphones and good playlist." Alice jested.

Jasiri laughed along before calming down and saying "You were right you know; about Kion being a virgin."

"Was that the first time you've taken someone's virginity?" Alice enquired, hopping up on a stool at the kitchen island.

"Yeah," Jasiri admitted "he was so nervous, but it was worth it."

"And how do you feel, um, down there? He's a cat and all males have a barbed dick." Alice asked, the bunny appeared bumbling and nervous in the rest of everyday life but when it came to sex she was comfortable talking about the subject freely.

"Not going to lie, I'm sore, it felt great during but when I woke up this morning I was throbbing with pain." Jasiri confided.

"I've been there," Alice sighed "I had a brief relationship with an ocelot guy last year, always hurt the morning after."

The kettle finished boiling and Jasiri poured the water into the mugs, whilst she let the tea brew she looked at Alice and noticed she was still wearing the same hoodie and skirt that she wore when she first arrived at the apartment building and called her out on it "Don't you wear anything else?"

"Huh?" Alice reacted.

"You wear that same outfit all the time." Jasiri pointed out.

"Well I have a few of the same hoodies and this is a different skirt." Alice defended.

"If you're going for the cute nerdy girl look you've got it down to a t, however if you want to impress this mystery girl of yours, you may have to have a bit more variety in your wardrobe." Jasiri suggested.

"I don't know, I've never been that fashion conscious." Alice replied, her ears going droopy.

"Well then I'll help you, I've got to go into work today but I'm free tomorrow, how about you and me have a girl's day out? We'll go shopping, get out claws done and have you looking so fine your crush won't be able to resist you." Jasiri smiled happily, passing Alice her tea.

"Really?" Alice asked with tinge of excitement in her voice, taking the mug.

"Of course, what are friends for." Jasiri confirmed.

 _Friend,_ Alice let the word replay in her head, realising that Jasiri was the first friend she had made since childhood, and that made her happy and a little bit sad.

000

Across town in their temporary apartment, Luna and Aleks were kissing each other farewell at the front door, Aleks rubbed his scent all over his love while he asked "You sure you don't mind me hanging out in the rainforest district today?"

"Of course not, they're your friends from work, it's good to cut loose once in a while and after the last few days you deserve a treat." Luna assured "So what are you guys planning for the day?"

"Well there's a fun obstacle course we want to try, then bowling and lots of drinking." Aleks explained.

"Make sure you enjoy yourself," Luna willed "I've got a Team Ceartais meeting tonight but I should be home just after 1am."

"I'll probably be crashed out by then." Aleks figured "Hey tomorrow do you want a go on a date? It's been a while since we treated each other."

"That sounds amazing," Luna agreed "but let's see how hungover you are in the morning."

"Don't jinx me." Aleks laugh before adding another quick kiss on his beloved's lips "I love you."

"I love you too," Luna replied "now go you'll be late to meet your friends."

"Ok, ok. See you tonight." Aleks waved off, walking out the door.

"Have a great time." Luna added before closing the door. She walked back into the main living space of the apartment and walked over to the big window that looked out over the business area of Savanah central, resting on the windowsill was her violin case. She flicked open the catches and looked at the instrument with resolve, ever since Aleks and Thrash had made her play the violin she had made it her goal to play the instrument for at least half an hour a day to rebuild her confidence and skill but also to remind herself of who she used to be before she took up another bow.

But before she could pick up her violin though a familiar voice sneered " **What the hell do you see in that boy scout?"**

Luna's fur stood on end, she knew the voice all too well, uneasily she turned around and saw a illusion of herself dressed up as Andraste "You're not real." Luna breathed, putting a paw on her forehead.

" **True, I'm not a living breathing mammal but as part of your messed up head, I'm definitely real."** Andraste corrected

"…You're a hallucination, just like the younger version of me that I saw." Luna was trying her best to stay calm.

" **And yet you look more scared to see me, why is that?"** Andraste asked with a smirk.

"I'm you! You're not someone separate, I just told myself that to cope with my guilt." Luna argued with the vision.

" **And who told you that? Dr. Thrash? Well seeing is believing Luna, here I am; Andraste."** Andraste coaxed.

"I'm Andraste and I'm Luna Wilde, I'm both!" Luna snapped.

" **Oh come on, you know you've been holding back ever since you started doing hero work again, that little part of you that wants to punish criminals, to beat the living crap out of them."** Andraste carried on.

Luna closed her eyes and covered her ears "You're not real, you're a hallucination." She tried to steady herself.

" **Now then, back to my first point; what do you see in Aleks?"** Andraste asked.

"What? What do you mean? I love Aleks, he's the best thing that ever happened to me." Luna defended, wondering if it was possible to punch an illusion.

" **Yeah, yeah; you dream of getting married, having kits and you've practiced writing your name as 'Luna Rojek' but what about what I want?"** Andraste hurled back.

"What you want? You're nothing, I know what I want; I want Aleks." Luna stated firmly.

" **Well, what about that dream 'We' had last night?"** Andraste asked with a sly smile.

Luna froze upon hearing this, she definitely did remember the dream from last night but when she awoke she just chalked it up to being a strange dream "So, it was nothing." Luna replied, sounding embarrassed.

" **A dream about having sex with Ronin is hardly nothing, I enjoyed it a lot."** Andraste smirked.

"Ok one; I'm not an inter. Two; I'm not in girls and three; even if I was why the hell would I be attracted to Ronin." Luna dismissed.

" **Maybe you're not but am I."** Andraste replied " **That little white bunny is my kind of mammal."**

"You've got to be kidding," Luna groaned with frustration "listen to me; you are just a figment of imagination, I'm Andraste not you, so do me a favour and get lost."

" **Fine, be that way."** Andraste said coldly " **But sooner or later I'm going to be tired of sitting on the side lines and you'll have to step aside."** And just like that the apparition vanished from sight leaving a frightened Luna more worried than ever about her darker side and pondering if Dr. Thrash had been wrong all along.

000

Basil Dawson was lost in his thoughts; the inside of his head was like a collection of thunderstorms with each thought flashing and thundering with speed, he was thinking about his failed hacking of The Rose Thorn and wondering who on earth thwarted his attempt, then there was the thought of Rattigan being back in the city and that made his blood boil and then of course there was another thought niggling at him; the penthouse crime scene. Basil took his work very seriously and always strived to seek out the truth but this time he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the truth, he had known Luna Wilde since she was four years old when she first made friends with Olivia, he had watched as she had grown into an intelligent and beautiful vixen who served Zootopia as a surgeon, but he knew as soon as he entered the crime scene that something was amiss. According to Luna and officer Rojeck, Spitfire arrived and helped the SWAT sharpshooter to defeat the Drowned, but the evidence didn't add up; the puncture marks on the cultists did not match the shape of Spitfire's tranq darts, the pattern of bullet fire suggested that two figures took cover instead of just one. But the most damming piece of evidence was the cultist who was thrown off the balcony, he had been stabbed in the throat and Aleks Rojeck's knife did not match the entry wound and Spitfire had never killed before or been known for using blades. This left Basil with only one conclusion; somehow Luna had managed to help fight off The Drowned and she made Spitfire take credit for it, this in turn left the burning question of 'Why?' and even though he knew of these discrepancies he hadn't not passed them onto detectives, he knew there must be a good reason for Luna to be lying and he wasn't about to see her brought in for questioning. Basil had been so wrapped up with these storms of thoughts that he tuned out the sound of his husband, David, talking to him.

"So I was thinking we could cook up a batch of vegetable dopiaza curry for when Olivia brings Blake around, what do you think?" David asked before taking a bite of his cheese and chutney sandwich, the two were sat in David's mortician office eating lunch together.

But Basil didn't respond, he hadn't touched his lunch either.

"Basil?" David prodded.

Basil still gave no response, his eyes were distant.

David huffed before leaning over a flicking his husband's nose "Basil!" he repeated with a bit more force.

Basil put a paw to his now stinging nose, the mild pain brought him out of his daze and he looked apologetically at David and asked "Did I space out again?"

David sighed and shook his head "Why do I even bother?"

"I'm sorry David," he said genuinely "it's just I've got a lot on my mind."

"Let me guess; Rattigan?" David assumed.

"Not just him, this penthouse case has me stumped." Basil danced around the truth.

"Well right now we're on our lunch break so can you try and engage in a normal conversation?" David asked.

"You're right I'm sorry, so do we even now if Olivia's boyfriend likes curry?" Basil asked back.

"Ah, I didn't think of that, I'll have to text Olivia tonight…I'm just so excited that our little girl has finally found someone." David couldn't hold back his joy.

"It's early days yet, let's not overwhelm them, we don't want to scare Blake off." Basil cautioned.

"Please, if anyone is going to scare him off it's going to be you." David parried.

"Me? Why would I scare him off?" Basil scoffed.

"You'll try and be a show off and use your deduction skills to figure out everything about the poor rat and make him feel uncomfortable." David played.

"If I remember rightly you weren't put off by my deduction skills when we first met." Basil pointed out.

"No I was put off by that ugly shirt you were wearing," David chuckled "but you were charming."

"And you were handsome, and still are." Basil flirted, the married couple read one another's minds and both leaned in for a loving kiss.

They spent the rest of break chatting happily and eating their lunch, but as Basil was leaving the office to go back to his lab David piped up "Maybe it's time to tell Judy."

"Hmmm?" Basil sounded.

"About Rattigan, tell her that's there are rumours he's back in the city." David expanded.

"But we made a promise, we…" Basil began to object.

"Our promise was to bring Rattigan to justice not to get revenge," David interrupted "Judy's a good cop and our friend, she'll send in an undercover cop and get Rattigan arrested, like we've always wanted."

"You want me to give up?" Basil asked in a sad voice.

"I want you to do the right thing, you've let Rattigan be your burden for nearly twenty years, let the law take care of him." David advised.

"David…" Was all Basil could manage.

"I want both of us to be around to walk Olivia down the aisle one day, I want us to be alive to see our grandchildren but if we keep pulling stunts like The Rose Thorn one or both us will wind up dead…it's your choice Basil, I won't force you but you know my feelings on the matter." David said carefully, before going over to Basil and giving him a reassuring kiss on the cheek.

Basil was once again lost in his thoughts as soon as he stepped out of the office, but subconsciously it seemed he already made up his mind because when he snapped out of his thoughts again he was stood outside the big looming door with the words 'Chief Judy Wilde' printed on the glass. He began to have second thoughts and was considering retreating back to his lab when Judy came up the stairs holding a fresh mug of coffee while she was beaming "Hey Basil."

"Ah good afternoon, chief." Basil remained polite despite being nervous, but he gathered his courage and asked "I was wondering if I could have a word with you?"

"Sure, come on in." Judy replied, opening the door that was impossible for a mouse to open. The two walked in and Judy automatically knelt down and outstretched her paw so Basil could climb on, he did so before being lifted onto the top of Judy's desk so they could both talk at the same eye level. "So what's up?"

"Well you see…" Basil began to open but the sound of a rapping at the window stopped him, they were on the third floor of the building, not even a giraffe could reach that high.

Judy must've been thinking the same thing, she turned to the blind covered window and mumbled "You heard that just now, right?"

"Yes." Basil's tone became serious.

Judy pulled the string to pull up the blinds and was greeted by the sight of the green mech hero, Spitfire, hovering outside her window. Judy didn't hesitate opening the window and yelling over the sound of Spitfire's thrusters "Are you looking to get arrested?"

"I have some intel for you Chief Wilde," Spitfire's synthesised voice said bluntly "you're one of the few cops Team Ceartais trusts."

"Am I supposed to feel honoured?" Judy asked in a rhetorical yet sassy manner.

Spitfire tossed a USB stick at Judy which she caught with ease "On there is evidence that the wanted criminal Padraic Rattigan is back in Zootopia."

Both Judy and Basil gasped at this but Judy was the first to ask "How did you get this?"

"We have our ways." Spitfire dodged "But if you want to arrest him you best move quickly, it looks like The Drowned want to make an example of him."

Judy had already plugged the USB stick into her desktop computer and gave a determined smile when she opened the files to see a still image of an aged Rattigan chatting to his henchmen "I've finally got you, after all these years."

Basil was torn at this moment on one hand Rattigan was most assuredly going down yet he was frustrated that he wouldn't be the one to orchestrate his downfall, Basil cleared his throat and said to the imposing mech "Thank you Spitfire, that scoundrel will pay for his dark deeds."

Spitfire nodded respectfully at Basil before turning to Judy "Until next time Chief."

"One of these days I'm going to have to arrest you." Judy grinned up at the hero.

"I look forward to the chase Ma'am." Spitfire replied, before soaring higher into the sky and way from precinct 1.

Judy shut the window and turned back to ask Basil what he wanted to talk about, only to find that he had left the room through the door she left open, she considered going after him but she had a raid to plan. She got out her smartphone and selected Aleks' number, hoping that he and the other members of her best SWAT squad had not had any beers yet.

000

Kiara or Lilly as she was now known, was slowly adapting to her new life on board the wrecked vessel that served as the Drowned headquarters. She no longer cowered in fear as soon as she saw a new face but she was still nervous when talking to them, Fuli had been sticking close to her charge and would always encourage and comfort the broken lioness. The cheetah explained that everyone who lived on the boat had a job to help out the community, Kiara was given the task of helping move heavy debris from sections of this ship. Of course Fuli was with her during her shift to make sure she didn't get too overwhelmed by the rest of the clean up crew. About an hour into the work though Beshte approached Fuli and Kiara, he saw that the giant muscle bound lion was still wary of him so he greeted in a friendly manner "Hi there Lilly, how are you doing today?"

"I-I'm fine Beshte." Kiara responded, avoiding eye contact with the hippo.

"She's really helping us out, our big champion." Fuli coddled before looking at Beshte and asking "Is there something you need?"

"Bunga's just picked up that special delivery that our contact left for us in Tundra Town," Beshte informed "he also found Mr. Jenkins, he's waiting in the storage area."

Fuli hid her excitement and gave a simple "Thank you Beshte, I'll head down there now." Fuli then looked up at Kiara and said softly "Lilly I've just got to take care of something, I'll be back in twenty minutes, ok?"

"Ok." Kiara nodded as she continued to clear debris with the rest of the large mammals.

Beshte and Fuli walked together down the storage area in silence and with haste, they reached the sealed door with two of Bunga's scouts standing guard, they both bowed their heads in respect as their two superiors opened the double doors and entered. The room was chock full of weapon crates, mostly containing assault rifles for animals of varying sizes, but in the centre of the room was Bunga standing beside a thick plastic cube with an air filter attached to it and inside the cube was the unluckiest squirrel in Zootopia; Josh Jenkins trying to claw his way out of the box that looked like it belonged in a lab. "Where did you find him?" Fuli asked, not feeling an ounce of pity for the snitch.

"At the dead drop in the meadowlands, he was attempting to call someone when we caught him." Bunga revealed, sounding proud of himself.

"Did you get him to talk?" Beshte asked, a blank expression was on his face as he looked at the terrified squirrel.

"He sang like a bird, but you're not going to like what he said." Bunga warned.

"Go on." Fuli instructed.

"He got caught by a heavy hired by Rattigan and brought him right to the professor's feet, he told them about our plan to use our rodent brothers and sisters to attack The Rose Thorn." Bunga told.

Fuli looked like she was about to explode into a fit of rage but calmed herself at the last second and replied "That is…disappointing."

"I know, I'm sorry Fuli." Bunga apologised.

"All might not be lost," Beshte cut in "according to my sources in the meadowlands, the local families are expecting a giant delivery of drugs from Europe and we all know there's only one mammal who can supply that much drugs."

"Rattigan." Fuli smiled "Get a time and date for us Beshte, that is your new task."

"You got it." Beshte replied. "I'll also send a fire squad to the Rose Thorn tonight just to make sure Rattigan isn't there."

"Now then Bunga, did you pick up the special delivery?" Fuli queried.

"Uh yeah," Bunga rifled through his pocket and produced what looked to be a tiny bag of sand "it doesn't seem like much though."

"We won't be storing the main bulk here, it'd be too dangerous, I just asked our financer to give us a test batch to see if it works." Fuli informed, taking the bag of yellow sand off the honey badger and going over to the cube.

"Do you really trust our financer?" Beshte asked with suspicion.

"They have stuck to their word so far, but we will remain vigilant." Fuli acknowledged, before pouring the sand into the air filter causing Josh to panic even more, the box was sound proof so they couldn't hear his desperate pleas.

"Ok so how does this work?" Bunga asked, curious why Fuli was so excited by the sand.

"On the surface it looks like normal sand," Fuli explained as she got a bottle of spring water from her pocket "but add just a small bit of water and dissolves like so…" Fuli poured the water into another section of the filter, sealed it and pressed a button with seconds the whole box filled with a yellow tinted gas, they could not hear Josh's screams of anguish but they did see his eyes start to bleed, his fur fall off in clumps and blood pouring out of his mouth, he collapsed and convulsed for about thirty seconds before he finally stopped moving.

"Astonishing." Beshte gawped.

"This, my brothers, will be what we use to test Zootopia," Fuli half growled and half cheered, a frenzied look in her eyes as she looked at the fresh corpse of Josh Jenkins "we will enact the Wave's will when we send this gas through the streets. The weak will die and only the strong will remain!"

000

11.30 pm came and Ray was stood dead in the centre of the Tundratown's Fishtown market ruins wearing a thick black coat, he swore it was more cold in here than it was outside, Chip and Dale were stood on each of his shoulders and were feeling the cold as well. "They're late." Chip griped.

"G-give em' time, it's pretty heavy snow out there." Dale reacted, his teeth chattering.

"It's a shame the rest of Camelot couldn't be here, I'd feel better knowing they had my back." Ray commented, his paws feeling cold even with gloves on

"They're stuck in Spain hunting a bomb maker, that takes priority over meeting a pack of kids playing dress up." Chip responded.

"Oh we're not playing." A voice called out of the darkness.

Ray's eyes shot to the direction of the voice and saw five very different shaped figures emerge from the darkness; The Undying Scarlet, Spitfire, The Mage, Roar and Bullet. Ray could already see the disgusted expression on Mage's face, he obviously wasn't happy about this meeting but the white tiger was more concerned with the look on Roar's face. He looked determined, as if he was ready to go into battle, Ray expected nothing less of Kiara's little brother. "Why'd you pick a place so cold?" Chip bitched.

"Because no one is dumb enough to come here, it's a death trap since the wave." Scarlet answered.

"Well we're here, just as we promised." Ray stated, wanting to get this meeting under way.

"Just as you promised?" Spitfire asked critically "I thought the agreement was no funny business yet you want to harm all six of us."

Ray didn't loose his composure but he uttered "Six?" when he noticed there was only five vigilantes in front of him.

Scarlet then shouted aloud "Oo-da-lally!", a second later five unloaded sniper rifles fell from the rafters and clattered to the cold ground about ten feet away from where the group were standing, Andraste then swooped down via grapple arrow and landed beside her little sister "Meet Andraste, our archer." Scarlet smirked under her mask.

"Five snipers couldn't spot little old me in my bright green outfit, your guys aren't very elite are they?" Andraste smirked.

"Did you kill them?" Ray asked in a frustrated voice, convinced that the snipers he chose for this mission were the best he could get.

"Don't worry, they've just been tranqed." Andraste replied.

"Not the best start to a meeting Kamino." Spitfire stated.

"Can you blame us? Most of you have superpowers." Ray reacted in a calm manner.

"I told you that we couldn't trust these guys." Mage seethed.

"Mage, please." Bullet calmed, putting a paw on the young wolf's upper arm.

"Fine, let's get down to business before we freeze our tails off," Chip cut in "we both know Phelps arms are hunting Kiara as well as us and the only reason they haven't gone after Roar is because they know they can't beat the whole of your team. They won't even attack Kion Priderock when he's at school for this reason."

Roar stiffened at this sentence and replied "So you know."

"No offence Kion but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, the only mammal to ever survive the elixir program was Kiara, it'd make sense that they target someone with a similar genetic makeup." Ray told.

"That doesn't explain why Kiara had the elixir implant in the first place," Andraste brought up "was she ordered to have it?"

"No," Ray shook his head "I didn't want her to have it."

Roar could tell there was more to the story and demanded "Tell us what happened."

Ray sighed before saying "We were in Jakarta, the American ambassador to Indonesia was being held hostage, it seemed like a simple enough job, the kidnappers were amateurs. Kiara was the first one to reach the ambassador, she went to go unbind him but she didn't see a tripwire, it triggered a homemade nail bomb…the majority of the shrapnel went in her spine, she was unable to walk."

Roar's face dropped at this revelation, not imagining the pain Kiara went through, even though he was upset he continued with his questioning "So what happened next?"

"She was in a military hospital outside Washington for week, she begged me not to call your parents, she had a hard time coping with the fact that she'd be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life." Ray recalled, his heart aching "I told her that it would be ok, that we could quit the military and live our lives together…but I couldn't convince her, she wanted to be a soldier since she was eleven and now that dream was gone, that's when that bastard Eustice Phelps came to us."

"The actual CEO of Phelps arms came to you two personally?" Spitfire asked, unconvinced.

"I couldn't believe it either, but there he was bold as brass spoon feeding Kiara all these promises about the elixir system, how the delivery of drugs directly to her spinal cord would reignite her nerves, all she would have to do is to stay in 'Elixir' mode for at least an hour a day and she would be able to walk again." Ray explained "Phelps kept the high mortality rate from us, but even he had told us Kiara would've still gone through with the procedure, she was the first mammal to survive the process."

"And soon as Phelps Arms had viable test results, they started showing it off to other nations who wanted their own super soldiers." Dale added.

"It was a drug delivery system meant for MS patients," Andraste gave a low growl "but as soon as you saw it could be used a weapon you just had to steal it."

"If it wasn't us, someone else would've." Chip backed up.

"So do you have any ideas why Kiara went into hiding?" Bullet pushed the conversation forward.

"I wish I knew, the best guess is that she got a head injury or that she's been in elixir mode too long and it's messing with her head." Ray theorised.

"Why would it mess with her memory?" Spitfire enquired, catching this odd comment.

"Well whenever we had a mission and she'd go into elixir mode and it was more than a couple hours when she'd revert they'd be parts of the mission she couldn't remember." Ray revealed.

"So the drug affects memory if it's your system too long." Andraste mused.

"And she's been in 'Elixir' mode for months, no wonder she ran away from us, she must've been terrified." Scarlet realised.

"Ok, so you want to help us find Sgt. Priderock and in return you want help with The Drowned, have I got that right?" Chip asked.

"Yes, we've come closer to finding Kiara than Camelot, we knows these streets better than you and we have eyes all over the city." Roar stated.

"But we don't have government level surveillance to tackle a group like The Drowned, there's hundreds of these guys and we'll need your help to stop these terrorists." Spitfire added.

"It's not that simple." Dale grunted.

"How? Camelot is an anti-terror task force." Mage slung back.

"Don't you think we've been trying to Camelot here since The Drowned first showed up? Both the American and British governments won't sign off on it." Chip told in a frustrated manner.

"So why haven't they come?" Bullet asked the obvious question.

"Because both governments don't recognise The Drowned as terrorists yet, they're still classed as serial killers, until they commit a terror attack Camelot won't be deployed." Ray informed, obviously not happy with the situation either "But that doesn't mean I can't help."

"No offence Ray but you're just one tiger, they have an army." Roar commented.

"True but I know how terrorists work, I've been fighting them for years, I know their communication methods, how they smuggle weapons and the early signs of an imminent attack." Ray listed "Plus I'll have both the NSA and MI6 providing me with intel."

"It's better than what we have now." Scarlet conceded.

Spitfire looked at each hero under her command, each of them gave a quick nod to show their vote, Spitfire then stepped forward extended her huge mechanical hand and said "Looks like we have a deal Kamino."

Ray didn't hesitate in shaking Spitfire's hand but had to ask "So how do we stay in contact?"

Scarlet stepped forward and handed Ray a very cheap mobile phone "It's encrypted so no one can listen in or trace it, our number is the only one in there." She informed.

"Thank you, really, thank you all." Ray said sincerely "I just want Kiara to be safe."

"You and me both." Roar agreed.

Suddenly everyone's comm buzzed into life and the Maid's voice came down the line " _Maid to team, respond!"_

Scarlet was the first to answer to respond, she spoke into the mic on her edge of her hood "We read you Maid, what's up?"

" _You best get over to The Rose Thorn, shit's going down."_ Maid replied with urgency.

000

"Well this was a waste of time and money." Judy grumbled, leaning against the police cruiser she had driven to the canal district. She had mobilized every rodent officer in precinct 1, which only amounted to nine plus eleven more from other precincts for a raid on The Rose Thorn, she had also got precinct 1's best SWAT team to provide support in case Rattigan had any medium sized or large mammals keeping an eye on the place from other buildings. But by the time Judy got a warrant from the DA and got everyone in position it was too late, the rodents cops stormed the club only to find drunk patrons, half naked dancers and bewildered staff. When they got to the management office all the found was a signed photograph of Rattigan with the message 'Better luck next time x' written on it.

"Someone must've tipped him off." Aleks figured, he was dressed in full tactical gear and had a firm grip on his assault rifle.

"Some things never change," Judy said with distain, looking at the dozen or so officers milling around outside the club "sixteen years later and Rattigan still has cops on the payroll."

"We should head back to the station and debrief." Aleks suggested.

"Yeah, no point staying here." Judy said in a defeated tone.

At that moment four spherical smoke bombs fell through the air and landed amongst the cops, there was a few seconds of panic but before Judy and Aleks could figure out what was going they started to hear screams and yelps of pain from the other officers masked by the smoke, Judy had got out her tranq pistol and Aleks readied his rifle, but soon the cries stopped and they could hear soft footsteps approaching. Aleks and Judy aimed towards where the sound was coming from, and out of the smoke, appearing like a spectre was a white rabbit with her mouth and nose covered by a skull mask, dressed in black sneaking suit with shuriken and other weapons hanging off of it and in her right paw was a katana " _Bonsoir_ Chief Wilde," Ronin spoke politely, twirling her sword "Professor Rattigan requests an audience."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Will Aleks and Judy survive their run in with Ronin!? Will Ray ever find Kiara? And how much more twisted can Fuli become? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC it's the battle of the Rose Thorn, a heart is broken and a secret is revealed. Please review and c ya soon)


	25. A lesson

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox with another chapter of Star of Ceartias. So guess what? This fic is now longer than the 1st take a stand with this chapter, and we've still got a bit to go! As always I'd love to thank everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last update. Also I want to thank everyone who supported me this last week in the wake of the torrent of homophobic hate mail I've got regarding this story, thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. And wow I've seen a crazy response to ziegelzeig's oc Ronin AKA Alice Kirabito, I've had so many messages and fan art submitted of her it's crazy. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 24- A Lesson.**

Aleks and Judy aimed towards where the sound was coming from, and out of the smoke, appearing like a spectre was a white rabbit with her mouth and nose covered by a skull mask, dressed in black sneaking suit with shuriken and other weapons hanging off of it and in her right paw was a katana " _Bonsoir_ Chief Wilde," Ronin spoke politely, twirling her sword "Professor Rattigan requests an audience."

Aleks knew who the figure was in an instant, a white bunny with a katana, just like Luna had described. He stopped himself blurting out her alias 'Ronin' as not to raise suspicion from Judy but kept his sights locked on the assassin. The smoke had almost cleared and Judy's amethyst eyes darted between her officers and saw that they were laying perfectly still yet their eyes were open and looking around in fear, their mouths were strained as if they were desperate to talk but their lips were glued together. "What have you done to them?!" Judy demanded, her tranq pistol aimed at Ronin's abdomen.

"I've paralysed them," Ronin replied, holding up a trio of thin acupuncture-like needles for them to see "they'll be fine...for about twenty minutes."

"What happens in twenty minutes?" Aleks asked anxiously, worried for his squad mates' welfare.

"The second toxin in the needles will manifest, it'll make them feel like every square inch of their bodies are on fire." Ronin answered as if it was no big deal. "They won't die but it'll be excruciating until their kidneys process the poison."

Judy read the situation and lowered her weapon and vocally analysed "Given the speed you disabled my officers I'd say you're well trained, and with that sword and the size of that handgun in your holster it's obvious you're a professional killer, but you didn't kill them which means Rattigan specifically asked you not to."

"Well observed Chief Wilde, you truly are a credit to our species." Ronin complimented sincerely "The Professor thought you would be in a more agreeable mood to talk if I spared the lives of your officers."

"And what makes him think I'd want to talk to him in the first place?" Judy replied, holstering her weapon, confident that the assassin wouldn't harm her.

"Well I've been told to inform you that the conversation will be beneficial for the both of you and it's the best interests of the city." Ronin relayed in a civil manner, Ronin retrieved a smart phone with headphones attached out of one of the pouches on her belt "You won't even have to leave your officers, you can video chat."

"And if I refuse?" Judy tested.

"Then I'd have to paralyse that fox beside you, knock you out and bring you to the Professor forcibly, but that would take well over twenty minutes and by that time your cops will start to feel the burn." Ronin explained "But if you take this phone, go into your squad car for privacy and have a nice little chat with the Professor, I'll be sure to give your officers the antidote before the second toxin comes into effect."

Judy was silent for a moment, she had already made her decision but was using those few seconds to see if any of her rodent officers were among the poisoned, there were only four which meant the rest had escaped or were still in the club, which also meant they had already called for backup and it was on the way. "I'll talk to Rattigan on one condition; you won't hurt Rojek or further harm my officers."

"As you wish." Ronin replied with a slight bow, extending her paw with the phone and the earbuds attached.

Judy looked up at Aleks and said without a hint of fear "If anything happens to me, you look after my girl, you hear?"

Aleks nodded at his superior and joked "Don't die on me chief, who's going to save me from Nick?"

Judy gave a flicker of a smile before stepping forward and taking the phone from Ronin before getting into the passenger seat of the police cruiser so she could talk with Rattigan privately leaving Aleks alone with Ronin. The SWAT cop kept his focus on Ronin who was standing five feet away with her katana drawn, true to his methodical nature Aleks made note of every weapon he could visibly see the bunny carrying and accessed the threat, normally he was 100% sure he could fire a shot and bring down an enemy this close but what after Luna had told him about Ronin's athletic prowess he knew that 100% was more like a 50%. Aleks then took notice of how Ronin looked physically, even though her mouth and nose were covered by a mask he tell from her eyes and the state of her fur that she was in her early twenties like him, her tight fitting sneaking suit showed off her toned muscles that came from intense training but what Aleks found most interesting was how perfectly still she was, no shakes of the paws, no shuffling weight from one foot to the other, her chest didn't even rise and fall when she breathed, the only part of her moved was her eyelids when she blinked. Aleks also realised something else; he no longer felt jealous of this rabbit, ever since Luna had told him about how Ronin kissed her the biting sense of jealousy had been at the back of his mind, wondering how attractive Ronin was, if she was cool and if she was somehow better than him but now all of that was gone and he wasn't sure why. But subconsciously his face began to show his relief, he was smiling and it did not go unnoticed.

"Now there's an odd face to pull in a situation like this." Ronin observed "What's with that smile?"

"Nothing." Aleks shrugged, being deliberately aloof.

"It's not a perverted smile, nor a nervous one, not even a sly one." Ronin ruled out "No, that is a content smile."

"You know a lot about smiles." Aleks replied, remaining calm.

"I know a lot about reading mammals." Ronin corrected "Speaking of which, you seem to be rather tranquil given the circumstances."

"I guess I'm not a panicky fox." Aleks bantered, surprised he was able to get under the assassin's skin so easily.

"I had heard Chief Wilde had nerves of steel after her long service in the police force but you're young and green, yet you stand face to face with the mammal who paralysed most of your team and you've got that dumb smile on your face." Ronin vented reservedly.

"It almost sounds like you're offended." Aleks commented, his smile transforming into a smirk.

Ronin's ears twitched at this accusation that she hated to admit was true but her curiosity was peaked, just who was this cop? Ronin read the nametag on Aleks' tactical vest and mused "Rojek, huh? I can't say I've ever come across you, but saying that; mammals who often run into me end up losing their head."

Aleks remained quiet and smirking which irked the bunny even more.

"Will you stop that?" Ronin requested.

"Stop what...Ronin?" Aleks teased.

Ronin's golden eyes narrowed and she cooed menacingly "Oh now this is interesting. How does a ZPD runt know my name? Because you sure as hell didn't get it through your normal intel."

"An angel told me." Aleks replied, unfazed by Ronin's tonal shift.

"An angel?" Ronin scoffed.

"Yeah, you met her a couple of nights back. Beautiful amber eyes, fur that's red like a fire and the body of goddess." Aleks described.

Ronin's ears went droopy as she breathed "Andraste."

"Oh and one more thing, that red feather you stole? My girlfriend wants it back." Aleks delivered a final verbal stab at his rival.

000

Marian had been keeping an eye on the Rose Thorn most of the night hoping to catch an image of Rattigan in handcuffs and being bundled into a police car, but when she saw the smoke bombs trigger around Judy her heart strained in panic, when the smoke cleared and she saw that the majority of Judy's cops were motionless on the floor and that Ronin was talking to Judy and Aleks she didn't hesitate contacting the team.

Minutes after the call, the majority of the team were sat in the team truck as Mage ploughed through the streets of Zootopia towards the canal district, which was on the opposite side of the city. "Bella give me an ETA until we reach The Rose Thorn?" Mage asked the virtual interface that resided in the truck.

" **At top speed and most optimal route; 13 minutes."** Bella replied.

"That's far too long, Mom could be dead by then." Scarlet freaked in the front seat, her hood was down and she was pulling on her long ears in frustration and fear.

"Ronin won't harm Mom or Aleks." Andraste assured, putting an arm around her baby sister.

"How can you be so sure? She's a psycho!" Scarlet replied in a stressed tone.

"Maid said she hadn't harmed them yet, we both know if Ronin wanted them dead she would've done it by now." Andraste convinced both Scarlet and herself.

" **If I may interject Scarlet,"** Bella spoke through the speakers " **according to Interpol files Ronin appears to be an 'Honourable' hitwoman, only killing targets she had been ordered to, if we're going by facts that gives Chief Wilde an 88% chance at survival."**

"Uh, that's my baby's way of saying 'It'll be ok'." Mage translated, drifting into the next street, nearly hitting a pizza delivery car.

Bullet who was sandwiched in the backseat between Spitfire and a untransformed Roar, leant over to the front a kissed Scarlet atop of her head before saying "Your Mom is tough, it's where you inherited all your guts from."

"Thanks babe." Scarlet replied in a jittery voice, despite the way she was feeling, she was appreciative of the comfort.

"Ok we're past the weather control plants," Spitfire noticed, "It'll be easy for me to fly ahead now."

"Can I hitch a ride on your back?" Scarlet asked, half serious.

But at that moment Mage turned another corner to find a stream of police cruisers and armoured SWAT vans heading in the same direction as them "Looks like one of your Mom's cops called in cavalry." Roar smiled.

"Good, we've got more chance of Ronin being in a cell by sunrise." Scarlet said, sounding more like her old self.

Then it happened; Bullet was the first to hear it (Of course she was); the whooshing sound through the air, the smell of smoke and flammable chemicals invaded her nostrils and then her sonar mapping sensed the shape of a small object ripping through the night in the direction of the police cruiser next them. "RPG!" Bullet screamed, a second later the police cruiser beside Bella exploded in hellfire and the two souls inside were instantly killed.

The pick up truck shook with the power of the blast and all the cop cars in front of Bella screeched to a halt, Andrate's battle ready mentality kicked in and she could spot three different snipers on evenly spaced rooftops ready to unleash their savage assault "It's an ambush!" she growled "Mage get us in cover!"

"Way ahead of you." Mage reacted, pulling into an alley while shots began to rain down upon Zootopia's finest.

"Who the hell are they?" Spitfire asked, even with the voice synthesiser she sounded furious.

"It's the Drowned, they were wearing the armbands." Andraste informed, double checking how many arrows she had in her quiver. "But I only saw snipers, I didn't see where the bazooka came from."

" **There at least twenty attackers are engaged in combat with the ZPD at this moment, but The Maid tracks another convoy of vehicles is heading to the Rose Thorn."** Bella relayed **.**

"It's a diversion." Bullet figured.

Another explosion erupted behind Bella, one cop fell to the sidewalk whilst her partner hastily tried to pull her to safety, Roar recognised the two law keepers in an instant, the chubby cheetah Clawhauser was pulling his partner and best friend Nala Priderock into cover. "Mom?" Roar breathed.

Spitfire read Roar's instincts and in a heartbeat she changed her plans "New strategy; we split up, me, Roar and Bullet will take care of this ambush while the rest of you head to the Rose Thorn." She commanded.

Alarm bells started ringing in Luna's head, she felt an acidic pool bubble in her stomach at being nearby Ronin so her fear propelled her to say "I'm of more use here, I'm better at long shots, Bullet's the girl for close quarters."

Spitfire was about to protest when Bullet backed up "She's right, I'm not the best with snipers."

Spitfire hadn't the time or train of thought to make an argument right now, instead she agreed "Fine." She was going against her better judgement but she was going to trust her best friend above all else.

Roar didn't need another word he initiated his 'elixir' form as he stepped out of the truck and let out a powerful snarl that sent shivers down everyone's spine in a 500 metre radius, he bounded toward Nala's side and could see her injuries were manageable "Take cover Clawhauser," Roar advised with a powerful voice "You've got a family waiting for you at home."

"How did…" Clawhauser began, but his concentration was placed upon the wounds to Nala's upper left arm.

A few feet away Andraste and Spitfire emerged from the safe truck to the sounds of screams and gunfire. Spitifre, even though she was covered by a thick coat of metal, the mouse underneath was worrying beyond belief for her rookies "Please look out for one another." The engineer pleaded as Andrate zipped up to the rooftops with a grapple arrow.

"We promise." Mage willed before putting the truck into gear once more and speeding off in the direction of the Rose Thorn.

000

Ronin had remained silent ever since Aleks had confirmed he was in a relationship with Andraste, she trying to calm herself down and was resisting the urge to take a few steps forward and sever the silver fox's head. She knew she needed to stay professional and complete the contract despite part of her wanted to scream in anger and another wanted to go home and eat her feelings with a tub of ice cream. But her concentration was broken when Alek's face dropped, he lowered his weapon and put a paw to his ear piece, he was obviously getting some disturbing news from dispatch "We've got trouble." He said, hastily "The chief needs to get out of that car, now."

"She's in the middle of a conversation with my employer, I'm afraid it'll have to wait." Ronin responded in a professional manner.

"Listen there was back up heading here but they've just been ambushed by The Drowned and there's another pack of them heading this way, we've got about three minutes before they reach us." Aleks informed, looking at his paralysed team mates and shared the fearful look in their eyes.

Like she said earlier; Ronin was good at reading mammals and could tell if someone was deceiving her so she could tell that Aleks was telling the truth, within a second she had formulated a new strategy, she produced a bottle of pink fluid and stated "Get your comrades to inhale this, it's the antidote, one sniff of this and they'll be back to normal in thirty seconds." She then threw the bottle to Aleks, who caught it easily and went straight to his squad mates.

Ronin was about to go over to the car and inform Judy and Rattigan of the situation when the screech of tires caught her attention, she turned thinking the Drowned had already arrived but instead an image that at first confused her but very quickly enraged her. A pick up truck was speeding towards the Rose Thorn but already hanging out of the door was The Undying Scarlet looking at Ronin with pure hatred. " _Merde,_ why now?" she griped, pulling her goggles down over her eyes as Scarlet launched herself at the assassin while screaming at the top of her lungs, Ronin saw the trajectory of where Scarlet was heading and moved out of the way at the second allowing Scarlet's face to collide with police cruiser's door.

Inside the cruiser, Judy jumped in alarm at the sudden jolt while Scarlet fell to the floor with a loud groan.

"Nice entrance." Ronin mocked.

"Scarlet!" Aleks yelped, he was kneeling beside one of the paralysed SWAT officers.

"Rojek I suggest you concentrate on reviving your squad." Ronin advised before looking over at Mage and Bullet emerging from the shooting star with their weapons drawn "You two want a piece of me as well?"

"Where's Chief Wilde?" Bullet asked loudly, the voice modifier made her voice sound scratchy and robotic.

"In that car, taking a video call." Ronin answered, motioning to the car "She has not been harmed, but she will be if I don't get her to safety, the dr-"

"The Drowned are coming, we know." Mage interrupted, his voice sounded a lot deeper with his modifier on.

"Then you know we have no time for a pointless…" Ronin began but she spotted a fist flying towards her, she dodged it and hissed "fight."

Scarlet, who had her muzzle covered by her red scarf, had her claws bared as she threatened "You're going down this time Ronin." Her voice modifier didn't mask her anger.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? We haven't got time for this." Ronin enforced "Now I can get Chief Wilde to a safer location if you let me."

"As if I'd trust you." Scarlet spat, ready to jump into another attack.

"Fine, you get her somewhere safe and I'll take care of the Drowned."

"Why would you help us?" Bullet asked with suspicion.

"The Professor was adamant that no police officers were too be killed either by myself or other parties, that is the job I've been tasked with." Ronin explained, cautious that Scarlet would strike at her given the chance.

Aleks had already gave the antidote to five of his fellow officers and the first two were getting to their feet, the polish fox had overheard the conversation and added "Good luck trying to get the chief to safety, she won't leave her officers."

Before anyone could reply Judy stepped out of the cruiser, eyed the three Ceartais members and sighed "Why do vigilantes always gravitate around me? It's like your begging me to slap cuffs on you." she then handed the smartphone and earphones back to Ronin.

Scarlet felt a little fearful for a moment, thinking that her mother would see through her disguise, she was stuck for words but luckily Aleks hollered "Chief, we have a convoy of Drowned cultists heading for our location, our backup was ambushed on their way here." He had revived eight of his team mates now

"Sweet cheese and crackers," Judy seethed, turning to her cops who were slowly getting back to their feet and ordered in a loud voice "alright everyone take up defensive positions, we're treating this like a terrorist attack, we'll give them one chance to surrender and if they do not comply shoot to kill."

"Chief Wilde allow me to offer my assistance, the Professor insisted that no harm should come to you or your subordinates." Ronin spoke.

Before Judy reply Scarlet butted in "As if she'd team up with one of Interpol's most wanted."

"I'm getting rather sick of you, girl." Ronin replied with spite, Judy left the two to argue and went to her officers to manage them.

"Well what do you expect with all the shit you've pulled?" Scarlet snarled back.

"Scarlet," Mage alerted "but your fight on the back burner for now, we need to focus on helping the ZPD."

"He's right, we need to make sure no one else gets hurt, you saw what happened to those cops on the way here." Bullet implored.

"…Right," Scarlet begrudgingly accepted, glancing over at her mother who was tending to her SWAT officers "no more dead cops."

"Guess this what they call a 'Team Up'?" Ronin asked in a cheeky manner.

"Bitch don't even…" Scarlet began to growl but the approaching sound of multiple engines halted her words, three trucks and two cars came around the corner and were heading right for them.

"Everyone get ready!" Judy shouted, taking over behind her car and aiming her tranq pistol at the convoy along with all of her officers, Mage and Bullet shielded themselves behind Bella while Ronin and Scarlet took no shelter, they just stood defiant in the roadway, ready for the battle.

"Mage, can you work a little of your magic?" Bullet asked, sounding nervous.

"Way ahead of ya'." Mage focused on the five vehicles and detected their built in computers through his mask's HUD and sniggered "Hope you guys are wearing your seatbelts." Before sweeping the air with his wand and causing all the vehicles to break suddenly before shutting down their engines suddenly.

Bullet heard the shouts and moans from inside The Drowned's vehicles which gave her a momentary feel of smugness before she mapped the convoy and counted twenty eight enemies "There's twenty eight of them, most have guns some have melee weapons." She shouted loud enough so Judy and the SWAT team could hear.

"How does she know that?" Judy asked Aleks rhetorically, to which the silver fox could only shrug.

The first few members of the cult began to emerge from the convoy, both predators and prey in varying sizes and all of them donning the armband that displayed The Drowned insignia. Judy felt a twinge of fear seeing that the cops were outnumbered two to one but she had the unwanted advantage of an assassin and three super heroes on her side, she'd have to defeat the drowned first before apprehending all four of the lawbreakers. She rose a megaphone to her lips, pressed the button and announced " **This is the ZPD, drop your weapons and put your hands behind your heads, if you do not comply we will respond with lethal force."**

Judy got her answer when a polar bear pulled the trigger of his assault rifle and bullet ripped through the air, with the police chief as it's intended target, but the bullet was stopped mid air and deflected into the concrete of the sidewalk by Ronin's katana.

Then all hell broke loose.

"Fire at the Drowned!" Judy bellowed her order and all the SWAT team began firing sporadically when they had a clear shot.

Bullet on the other hand didn't rely on having a clean line of sight she started aiming at the shapes of mammals firing weapons and charging at the rose thorn, each shot she fired found their mark. Ronin and Scarlet charged together, Scarlet got hit with two shots to the stomach but that only made her more angry as she bounded at the Polar Bear who had shot at her mother, she swiped her sharp left claw across the bear's face causing him to drop his rifle, she then latched onto his collar and started pummelling the large pred's face, the sound of bone crunching was masked by all the gunfire and shouts, eventually the polar bear fell and Scarlet moved onto the next large mammal she could spot, an Ox. The cloven hoofed giant saw the blur of red rage racing towards her and waited for the perfect moment to slam down a baseball bat across the side of Scarlet's jaw, the teen hybrid was sent clattering to the ground, her jaw instantly dislocated and ears were ringing as she went face down into the road's tarmac. The Ox rose the bat above her head ready to bash the heroine's skull in, but was electrocuted by one of Mage's shock cards that landed in the centre of her chest and fell backwards in an convulsing state.

"Scarlet! You ok!?" Mage barked, using his wand to blow a watermain under the road that caused a jaguar and a horse to be flung into the air and land in the canal.

Scarlet staggered to her feet, grabbed her jaw with a whimper of pain put it back to where it usually rested and felt the nanobots repair the damage, she couldn't talk just yet so she gave a thumbs up and continued to battle on.

Bullet started to notice some of the cultists were starting to take cover behind parked cars and mail boxes and decided to pick them off, she jumped onto Bella's hood before somersaulting through the air, she was high enough now to hit three cultists in cover, as she spun through the air she fired three shots with each gelatinous tranq bullet hitting the targets in the head as she landed on the tarmac she used her ballet skills and performed a passe' en releve' twirl while shooting two more cultists firing at the cops before using a penche' kick to knock out a African wild dog.

Ronin had her own way of taking care of these fanatics; the messy way. The first fool to charge at her was otter clumsily holding a dagger, she threw a shuriken which went straight through his open screaming mouth and pierced the back of his throat causing the water mammal to floor to the ground and panic as his lungs filled up with blood. A female rhino came at the assassin next, Ronin used her excellent athletic skills to jump at the Rhino's face while pulling out her handgun and sending a bullet through her skull and before she landed her jump she severed the head of a kangaroo cultist. Ronin heard a shout of anger from her right and saw a buck deer coming at her with a machete, she dodged the downward swipe and with one swift slice of her blade she not only severed the hoof that held the machete but also large part of the Buck's left antler. The Buck collapsed to the floor howling in anguish as his arm bled out, Ronin shut him up by taking the antler that she had cut off and plunging it into the deer's heart. The swordswoman looked around the makeshift battlefield and saw that only a few cultists were left standing, most had been rendered unconscious by the three members of team Ceartais, some were killed by the SWAT team and the rest had been slain by her hand. Ronin was satisfied that Judy and the rest of her cops were safe, her job was complete and she quickly wiped the blood away from her sword with a handkerchief before sheathing it, she was about to drop a smoke bomb and disappear into the night but just as was about to flee, a powerful paw grabbed her and threw her high into the sky towards the rooftops of an apartment building, she got over initial shock within a second and looked down at who was able to throw her with such strength; it was Scarlet who was looking at with pure anger in her navy blue eyes. Ronin allowed her body to ragdoll to reduce injury when she landed, she crashed into an air conditioning system on the roof and felt pain course though her body, her ribs were cracked but not broken.

Ronin was just rising to her feet when she heard the thud of paws landing eight feet away from her, she looked up to see The Undying Scarlet in a fighting stance. "Listen child, I've had a pretty bad night, so I really want to blow off some steam and you really don't want to be on the receiving end." Ronin breathed, pulling her katana from her scabbard "I'll give you one chance to leave."

"Do I look the type to run from a fight?" Scarlet responded, pointing to the bullet holes in her uniform.

" _Baka."_ Ronin simmered in Japanese, her years of training under a Japanese master had gained her a fluency with the language "You are a fool blinded by your rage." She flipped her katana dull part of the blade faced Scarlet, the reverse blade technique would keep Ronin alive but it'd still hurt.

Scarlet had watched enough anime as kid to know what 'Baka' meant, it just added more fuel to the fire of her anger. Within the same second both warriors jumped at each other, Scarlet sent a punch flying way too early and Ronin took full advantage of that mistake, she brought down the full side of her sword to the back of Scarlet's head sending the red clad vigilante colliding with the same air conditioning unit Ronin crashed into moments before. Ronin landed on solid ground and threw herself into another attack, zipping towards the grounded Scarlet saw her coming and attempted to throw a punch at bunny but failed as Ronin read the obvious counter and let the sharp edge of her Blade skim across Ronin's chest causing a squeal of pain to release from Scarlet's mouth as well as a streak of blood that coated both the katana and the rooftop. "I told you to leave, you should have listened." Ronin's voice boiled.

"SHUT UP!" Scarlet roared, throwing a quintet of punches at Ronin and all of them missing the agile sword wielder.

Ronin reacted by sending a well time kick to Scarlet's stomach causing the teen to stumble back with her arms flailing as she hit a brick chimney stack, Ronin saw an opening and let her wicked impulses take hold of her reflexes, she threw two shuriken into Scarlet's wrists the sharp object tore through fabric, fur, skin and bone and imbedded in the red brick of the chimney stack all to the tune of Scarlet's pain filled screams. But there was no respite, Ronin got out her handgun and emptied her magazine into the hybrid teen's strained body, a bullet in the liver, the pancreas, one in both kidneys, her bowel, her intestines, both kneecaps and both shoulders, Scarlet was letting her tortured howls fill the night sky as her body threatened to black out from all the pain. Ronin could see how weakened Scarlet was a felt a wave of disappointment and discuss join her already present fury, she stepped towards the vigilante and removed both shuriken from her opponent's wrists and let her fall to the floor in a bloody, hyperventilating mess. The contract killer could already see Scarlet's body trying to heal itself so she knew she had to keep up the assault if a lesson was going to be taught. Ronin eyed a thick iron plumbing pipe leading from the smallish water tower on the roof and an idea quickly manifested, she grabbed Scarlet by the ankle and started dragging her over to the pipe "You'll notice that I didn't shoot you in the heart, head or lungs, like I said to you and Andraste in Rainforest district there is no sense in killing you for free." Ronin told in an agitated voice "I don't want to test how 'undying' you really are if I'm not getting a paycheck."

"Y-you…" Scarlet struggled, her vision was blurry and her body felt like it was on fire.

Ronin then sat Scarlet up against the pipe, deliberately knocking the heroine's head off the iron, before getting out her garrotte wire and making a noose with it; tying the end to the pipe and slipping the loop over Scarlet's head and tightening it slightly around her neck. Ronin then stood back and reloaded her handgun while saying venomously "You know when I first fought you, I was excited. I thought that there was finally an opponent worthy enough to go against me, to be kill an immortal would be the greatest triumph of any assassin but after that pathetic display I realise that I was wrong."

"I'm g-oing…." Scarlet panted, she was still too weak and not all of the bullets had been forced out of her body yet.

"Please realise that when I do eventually kill you I'll no longer take pride in it, you are no longer worthy of my full strength, you're just a dumb little girl trying to be a hero." Ronin spoke, knowing her words were cutting deep from the pained yet defeated look in Scarlet's eyes "Think about it; everyone you've faced so far has been petty criminals or those radical cultists, you've never faced a true enemy. You call yourself a hero but when the first trial bests you the mighty immortal turns into this pathetic mess."

Suddenly Ronin heard footfalls on the fire escape, she quickly turned around to see Bullet aiming both her pistols at her, the markswoman fired a shot from each gun but Ronin wasn't worried, with ease and grace she sliced through both tranq bullets before flying forward and upper cutting Bullet in the face before quickly slicing through the metal cord that connected her high tech handguns with her Katana. Scarlet tried to get up and help but the noose around her neck tightened, cutting into the flesh. Ronin gut punched Hannah causing her to drop her guns, she then fell to her knees winded by the blow but that was quickly followed by a kick to the chops from the bunny's big feet. "Bullet!" Scarlet bawled, tears cascading down her face, the noose kept getting tighter the more she struggled.

"She's the same as you, isn't she? A kid who has no clue what they're doing." Ronin figured before sending another kick to Hannah's midsection, but in the assassin's mind she was picturing kicking Aleks Rojek.

"Leave her alone!" Scarlet begged, choking slightly from noose that was already making her neck bleed.

Ronin looked at Scarlet and Bullet and connected the dots "Ah, you love her." She observed before stepping back from Bullet, who was groaning on the floor "Very well, I'll take my leave, but first…" Ronin then bolted Scarlet and pierced her katana into the heroine's gut then twisted it triggering another tormented scream from Scarlet.

When she stopped screaming, Scarlet looked at Ronin and panted "You b-bitch!"

Ronin then pulled out her blade and said in the coldest voice she could muster "I want you to remember this moment the next time you think you'll be anything more that stupid little girl cosplaying as a hero."

"Scarlet! Bullet!" A voice hollered, Ronin turned around to see The Mage appearing on the fire escape, the assassin daren't chance another altercation and dropped a smoke bomb.

Mage saw that Bullet was already getting to her feet so ran through the haze of smoke to Scarlet with Ronin already vanished. Mage quickly untied the wire while saying in a panicky tone "We've got to move, your Mom is already looking for us."

Bullet joined Mage in helping Scarlet to her feet and breathed "Let's get back to Bella."

Scarlet was led down the fire escape but she really didn't register the moment, she was silently crying; she wept due to the pain, she was teary eyed because she came so close to dying but the reason she was crying the most is because she was experiencing a new and terrifying feeling; defeat.

(AN/ So what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; We learn what Judy talked to Rattigan about, Kodi finds himself in trouble, Alice is heartbroken and some difficult conversations are going to take place. Please review and c ya soon...)


	26. Temptation

(AN/ ok folks I ain't going to lie this chapter is going to divide people, so yeah you may hate me by the end of the chapter...Yikes. Oh FYI a NSFW and very M version chapter of this chapter including NSFW art of a scene in this chapter will be available on my tu,blr; crewefox, just search NSFW content. Ok without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 25- Temptation**

Ronin returned to her apartment a mere thirty minutes after she withdrew her katana from Scarlet's stomach, her entire body felt drained from the battle at the Rose Thorn, but her tiredness wasn't the thing that was bothering her the most. Ronin had wanted to teach Scarlet a small lesson in humility, there were so many points in her fight that she could've stopped but she hadn't. The assassin kept on needlessly torturing the teen and she knew the reason why; Rojek. When the silver fox had told her that Andraste was his girlfriend it hurt, she felt like she wanted to scream with rage and cry her eyes out at the same time but she couldn't, she had a job to do. So when Scarlet got in her way she unleashed her pent up rage on her and now she was starting to deeply regret it.

Ronin removed her weapons, mask and goggles in her bedroom before heading into the bathroom for a shower, all the while her mind was still focused on what she did to Scarlet. Painful memories of her youth began to surface as she envisioned her fight with Scarlet, she had been treated cruelly in the past and was beginning to think of herself as the same kind of monster who had put her through hell as child. Sure she was killer, but she killed the wicked, the corrupt and fellow killers, Scarlet was none of those things, she was a vigilante yet Ronin rained down on her like the wrath of god. The rabbit looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and no longer saw the killer Ronin but the forlorn face of Alice Kirabito, she sighed and began to undress for her shower, soon enough she was completely naked and once again she was looking at herself in the mirror.

Alice's golden eyes fell onto the scars that dominated most of her body and thought how each of these injuries taught her a lesson but the worst scars were in her mind, she hated the mammals that had scared her mentally but now she had done the same to Scarlet. "You're a monster." She said to her reflection, causing a tear to roll down her cheek. "You're a monster!" She repeated a little louder before punching the mirror with such force it cracked as she bellowed "You're a fucking monster!"

000

It had been a hollow victory at the Rose Thorn for Team Ceartais, Kodi and Hannah had managed to get Robyn to Bella by which time most of her injuries had healed but she was silently crying as Kodi drove to rendezvous with the rest of the team. Robyn was in no fit state to talk so Hannah and Kodi had to explain what had happened at the Rose Thorn, Luna had tried to comfort her little sister but all Robyn wanted to do was go home. Luna convinced the others to leave the debrief until tomorrow, Kodi had driven Hannah and Robyn back their homes before heading back to his place. He parked Bella in the usual hiding place, in a disused garage that had now been fitted with high tech security systems thanks to Olivia, before sneaking into the mansion grounds and going to the one window he always sneaked through, the game room. Despite the name, the game room was rarely used for playing games anymore, it was more of a chill out room for Kodi and Sasha. Kodi opened the unlocked window and quietly climbed through to find his sister on the sofa, munching on a cookie and watching a show on Netflix. "Hey." Sasha greeted brightly while she paused the show.

"Hey," Kodi smiled back, still in his Mage gear "it's nearly 3am what are you still doing up?"

"A new season of the show I like got released today, so I'm binging it." Sasha answered, chewing on a chocolate chip cookie. "How was your patrol?"

"Ugh, don't ask." Kodi groaned, flopping down onto the sofa.

"That bad?" Sasha asked, wiping away some cookie crumbs off the camera hung around her neck.

"Worse, we saved the day but two cops were killed by the Drowned tonight and Robyn got her ass handed to her by a bad guy." Kodi explained in a glum tone, grabbing a cookie from the plate on the coffee table.

"Someone was able to beat Robyn?" Sasha voiced her disbelief "It must've been a huge mammal, right?"

"Nope it was a bunny with a samurai sword." Kodi revealed "Ronin is one rabbit I wouldn't want to fight."

"Oh god, poor Robyn." Sasha sympathised.

"On a happier note I kicked all kinds of ass tonight, I swear this city can't handle my awesomeness." Kodi bragged before taking a bite of his cookie.

Sasha chuckled slightly before saying "You're still my dorky big brother even if you are a superhero."

"And you'll always be my number one fan." Kodi grinned at the antelope. "Right I best get changed." The wolf said getting up from the sofa and heading to the small bathroom attached to the game room, his parents never used this bathroom and he always hid one of his uniforms and a spare set of PJs behind a loose ceiling panel. Kodi emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later dressed in white t shirt and black shorts that he used as sleepwear.

"Ok, I'm going to hit the hay, don't stay up all night watching that show." Kodi yawned.

"Not a chance, I still have six more episodes to go." Sasha dismissed with a smile.

Kodi just shook his head and made his way to the door, but when he opened it he found two familiar figures waiting for him; his parents Gazelle and Wade. "Oh, hey." Kodi said quickly, caught off guard by their sudden appearance "Why are you hanging outside the game room?" his voice strained from nerves, Sasha also shared her brother's worried expression.

"Waiting for you, actually." Wade revealed, his arms folded across his chest "We know you snuck out."

Kodi felt a little relief at his dad's answer, the trickster could spin this situation "Ok, yeah you caught me, I was at a party and I just got back in." Kodi fibbed, faking a guilty look.

"So let me guess, there were pretty she-wolves at this party?" Gazelle queried with a critical tone.

"Uh, yeah, there were one or two I guess." Kodi continued to lie, feeling the pressure from his mom's stare.

Gazelle reached into the pocket of the dressing gown she was wearing and produced her phone "Tell me did those girls look like this?" she asked while holding her phone inches from Kodi's face, on the screen was an Instagram photo of the Mage flanked by two she-wolves who were each kissing one of the vigilante's cheeks; it was the photo that was taken while he was staking out the Rose Thorn a few nights ago.

Kodi felt his mouth go dry as he tried to come up with a lie but his brain had stalled, he just stood there with a stupid look on his muzzle.

Gazelle lowered her phone and sighed "We need to talk mijo."

Sasha who looked guilty as well, got up from the sofa and tried to make her way past her parents "I'll leave you alone." She mumbled.

Wade put a paw on the girl's shoulder to halt her "Oh no you don't, we need to talk to you to, Miss Ojos." Wade informed.

"…oh no." Sasha uttered, glancing at Kodi who looked more scared now.

Wade and Gazelle guided their kids back to the sofa, the naturally skittish Sasha had latched onto her brother for comfort while their parents turned off the TV and stood in front of the pair of guilty looking siblings. "Ok, are you two The Mage and Miss Ojos, yes or no?" Wade asked bluntly.

"Yes." Sasha answered quietly.

"…Yeah." Kodi replied in a defeated tone "I can't believe that picture caught me out."

"That wasn't the only thing," Gazelle corrected "we've been noticing you sneaking out recently, we put it down to you going after girls but I didn't expect this."

"So what now?" Kodi asked, bracing himself for the worst.

"Nothing." Wade answered.

Both Jones siblings shared a perplexed expression before simultaneously saying "What?"

"We're not going to stop you." Gazelle confirmed.

"You've lost me." Kodi spoke, his tone matching his puzzled face.

"When we first figured out who you were, we were going to stop you, I was even tempted to call the cops on you." Wade admitted.

"But then the more we looked into what The Mage and the rest of Ceartais were doing for the city our eyes were opened, you've saved so many lives and you bring hope to the city." Gazelle revealed "Plus when I saw the 'Offical' team Ceartais pictures I recognised the style and connected the dots and found Miss Ojos."

"So I can keep being taking photos of the team?" Sasha asked with hope.

"As long as you aren't in any danger, it's ok." Wade clarified.

"We saw the news tonight, was it true you fought the Drowned in the Canal district?" Gazelle quizzed.

"Yeah, they were trying to kill Chief Wilde but we stopped them." Kodi answered "So are you guys really ok with me doing this?"

"Look we're not going to lie, we're scared as hell that you'll get hurt. But we know the moment we try and stop you someone will die because you weren't there to save them." Wade replied "You're a hero Kodi, we're so proud of you."

"You spend your nights helping mammals all across Zootopia, how could we not be proud?" Gazelle smiled softly at her son, hardly believing that the little wolf cub she had adopted had grown into a real hero.

"Wow," Kodi smiled back "thanks you guys."

"But if you're going to continue to be a hero we need to know everything." Wade stipulated.

"We won't ask you to snitch on the others' identities, even though a couple of them are obvious, but we want to know how this all started." Gazelle clarified.

Kodi looked up at his parents and felt like the luckiest wolf on the planet, his parents were proud of him and that filled his heart with a warmth he was not expecting. But being the natural showman that he was he was going to have to recall the tale of how he became The Mage with his own signature flair, he cleared his throat before opening with "It all began when I started to volunteer at the Sherwood Relief Centre.."

000

The morning came and Luna awoke in Aleks' arms, both of them were exhausted from the night's events and had fallen asleep rather quickly. She sneaked out of the sleeping Aleks' embrace and slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom, when she came back into the bedroom she saw her phone's light flashing, indicating she had a text message. Luna scooped up her phone and opened the message 'Lu, can you come round? I need you.' The text was from Robyn, it was rare that the hybrid would reach out but after what happened last night Luna figured that her sister must be feeling very down. She quickly got dressed, kissed the slumbering Aleks and left a note for him before leaving for the Wilde family home.

She arrived at her parent's apartment twenty minutes later, she used her spare key to let herself in and found Hannah in the kitchen making some hot chocolate. "She called you too, huh?" Luna asked, skipping the greetings.

"I came over anyway, I was worried." Hannah revealed, turning to face Luna.

"So…how is she?" Luna asked, her worry clear to hear in her voice.

"She's been crying all morning." Hannah answered, her own voice sorrowful "I've never known her to be this upset, she hardly ever cries."

"Thanks for being here, she's lucky to have you." Luna appreciated.

"I haven't been able to do much," Hannah lamented "all I've done is hug her and tried to get her to talk."

"Believe me sometimes a hug off the person you love the most is all you need." Luna encouraged.

Hannah poured out the hot chocolate into three mugs before handing two of them to Luna "I thought that some hot chocolate might cheer her up, she's in her room." The striped hybrid informed.

"You're not joining us?" Luna wondered.

"I think you're the only one who can get through to her, I'll be right out here." Hannah explained before taking a swig of her own beverage.

Luna then made her way down the hall and found Robyn's door slightly ajar, she entered through the doorway to see Robyn dressed in her pyjamas and sat on her bed staring at her heavily damaged uniform that she had laid out on the floor. "Hey Robbie." Luna greeted in a soft voice.

Robyn raised her head to look at her sister, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot from crying, they were still watery and look ready burst with more tears at any given second "Lu." Robyn spoke, her voice gravely from her constant crying.

This image broke Luna's heart, she set the hot chocolates down on the Robyn's desk before rushing over to her baby sister and wrapping her in a tight hug "Oh Robbie." Luna sighed as she held the teen close.

Robyn hugged back while mumbling "I screwed up so much Luna."

"You got beat, it happens sometimes." Luna assured, stroking the fur atop of Robyn's fur.

"Not just that," Robyn cut in "you warned me about getting angry and look what happened."

"Have you still got that anger?" Luna asked in apprehensive voice.

"No…I just feel sad." Robyn spoke, letting go of Luna and going back to staring at her uniform.

"And why do you feel sad?" Luna queried.

"You know why." Robyn replied, her bottom lip quivering and her nose twitching.

"I want to hear you say it." Luna willed.

"…Because it hurt, because Ronin beat me so easily, because I was stupid and didn't listen to everyone, because Hannah got hurt, because I lost and because Ronin was right; I'm just cosplaying as a hero." Robyn vented, her navy blue eyes crying once again.

"You and I both know that's bullshit, you're a hero. You've saved so many mammals and put crooks behind bars, you're the definition of a super hero." Luna parried.

"Look at that!" Robyn snapped, pointing at her uniform "What's so super about me? A mammal smaller than me with no powers didn't just beat me, she destroyed me with barely any effort."

"Robbie that little maniac has probably been killing mammals since she was a kid, you shouldn't keep focusing on this defeat." Luna countered.

"But…" Robyn sniffed, her crying getting more intense "What if I go out on patrol and I lose again? What if someone gets hurt?"

Luna let out a heavy sigh before saying "You know why she said all those things to you, right? To get in your head, to psyche you out, she wants you to doubt yourself and it looks like she's winning."

"Lu?" Robyn mumbled.

"So are you going to let her win? Because if you keep on crying and doubting that you're one of the bravest mammals in Zootopia that's what you're doing." Luna stated "You're Robbie Heather Wilde, you don't buckle at the first sign of pressure, when you get punched you punch back ten times harder and you're not a cry baby."

Robyn was still crying but a smile had managed to grow on her face, she hugged her sister again and Luna could instantly feel the tension in the teen starting to evaporate. Luna silently hugged her back while in her mind she was already planning to bring Ronin down. Ronin had crossed the line and Luna was going to break her before handing her over to the cops but the vixen knew that she may need the help of her ruthless dark side.

000

Jasiri Outlander was feeling chipper as she made her way downstairs to Alice's apartment, the spotted hyena was excited for her girls' day out with her new friend. She rapped her knuckles upon the door and sang "Alice, you ready?"

A few seconds later the door opened and Jasiri saw a vision of Alice she had not expected to see; the white fur rabbit looked like she had crying, she was wearing an oversized t shirt with no pants on and had a half eaten tub of 'Carrot Cake Flavour' ice cream in one paw and a spoon in the other "Sorry Jasiri, I don't feel like leaving my place today." She said a tired and timid voice.

Jasiri glanced into the apartment to see a soppy romantic anime on the TV and an empty tub of ice cream on the coffee table. Jasiri added up all the clues and said in a sympathetic voice "Oh bunny baby, what happened?"

"Take a wild guess." Alice replied, taking another spoonful of ice cream before walking back to her sofa, where a pillow and duvet cover lay.

"It can't be that bad can it?" Jasiri queried, walking in and closing the door behind her.

"Yes it can, my dream girl has a boyfriend." Alice answered, trying her best not to cry. She crashed onto the sofa and into her nest of self-pity

"Oh Alice." Jasiri spoke gently, taking a seat beside her friend. "I'm so sorry, how did you find out?"

"I ran into her boyfriend last night and he is a world class bastard." Alice told "Then I was an absolute monster and lashed out at my crush's sister."

"Ok that's a lot to unpack," Jasiri mused "ok let's clear something up what's your crush's name?"

Alice knew she couldn't say the name 'Andraste' so she nicknamed her "Andi, her name is Andi."

"Aw that's a cute name," Jasiri commented before getting back on topic "so how did the conversation go down?"

"Well he knew who I was and knew that I was attracted to Andi, he took the fact that he was with her and rubbed it in my face." Alice revealed, sounding solemn.

"What an asshole." Jasiri scorned "So what happened with Andi's sister?"

"Her sister hasn't liked me since we first met, the little brat pushed my buttons and I said some real awful things to her, but she didn't deserve it I was just angry." Alice danced around the truth.

"You messed up, we've all done it, just apologise to her the next time you see her." Jasiri advised.

"Don't you get it? There isn't going to be a next time, how can I ever face Andi again after last night?" Alice began to sob.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be alright." Jasiri soothed, opening her arms to invite the bunny into a hug, which Alice instantly accepted, as Jasiri hugged Alice she realised something "Wait a sec, you and Andi have kissed right?"

"…Yeah, why?" Alice sniffled.

Jasiri pulled back from the hug and asked "And there's a connection between you two, right? Like you're both similar?"

" _Oui_." Alice nodded, wondering where Jasiri was going with this.

"And you said her boyfriend was a smug bastard who belittled you?" Jasiri probed.

Alice gave another nod to confirm while wiping away her tears.

"So do you really think Andi is suited with that dickhead? Because if she's a lot like you, I can't picture her being with a guy like that. And there is also the fact that she kissed you." Jasiri pointed out.

"You're saying I shouldn't give up on her?" Alice asked, sounding dubious.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Jasiri grinned "Just stick around, be your naturally awesome self and then she'll start to see that she should be with you and not that jerk."

"You really think that could work?" Alice asked, her voice getting a little brighter.

"Who knows? Maybe it will, maybe it won't but all you can do is try. It's better than being sad, eating ice cream and watching trashy anime." Jasiri replied, motioning to the TV which currently showed two characters kissing passionately while cherry blossoms swirling around them.

"My choice in anime is not trashy." Alice pouted.

"Yeah deny it all you want girl, but it's the truth." Jasiri reacted "Anyway if you ever want to get Andi to see how sexy you are we need to get you some new duds. So how about that girls' day out?"

Alice smiled before getting up from the sofa "I'll go get changed." She said happily as she dashed off to her bedroom but just before she went into the hallway she turned to Jasiri and said sincerely " _Merci."_

"Anytime, girl." Jasiri gave a smile of solidarity.

000

It was now official; The Drowned were classed as a terrorist group. Both the attacks at The Rose Thorn and on the ZPD convoy were now deemed as terror-related. Governor Krieger, a goat democrat who had funded Nick and Alana's election campaign, had travelled to Zootopia as soon as he heard of the attack. A press conference was held at city hall; there were statements from the Governor, Mayor Wilde, Chief Wilde, Commissioner Bogo, MCB Regional Director Savage and representatives from Homeland Security and the National Security Agency. There were promises of all law enforcement branches working tirelessly to bring down The Drowned fast but everyone was feeling a little scared. For Judy all she could think about were the three cops that were dead from the ambush, they were from a different precinct but it still hurt to lose brothers and sisters in blue, all of them had families and they were taken from life so cruelly and needlessly.

Judy had asked Nick, Skye and Jack for a private word after the press conference and as the four old friends walked up the stairs to Nick's office they bumped into Alana, who was respectfully dressed all in black out of respect for the lives lost. "You heading home?" Nick asked, in a slightly worried tone.

"Yeah, Baylee was friends with one of the cops who were killed, he isn't taking it well." Alana explained, the worry for her boyfriend's wellbeing was clear in her eyes.

"Oh sweet cheese and crackers, I'm so sorry Alana." Judy empathised.

Nick looked to his bodyguard and practically shadow, Ben and ordered "Bernard please make sure Alana gets home safely."

"But sir, I need to be here at city hall with you." Ben protested, now used to Nick getting his name wrong.

"I've got the chief of precinct 1 with me as well as two of the most experienced MCB agents ever, I think I'll be ok for the next half an hour." Nick assured.

Ben saw the fox's reasoning and complied with a curt "Yes sir." Before walking down the stairs with Alana.

The four friends then went into the office and Judy made a b line for the liquor cabinet "What's everyone drinking?" Judy asked, she was stressed and needed a drink, she figured everyone else would feel the same.

"Bourbon and ice please." Jack answered.

"Same for me." Skye replied.

"You know what I like fluff." Nick responded, leaning on his desk.

Judy poured the three other drinks first before taking the vodka bottle taking a good swig out of it before pouring some more in a glass which cause Nick to chuckle "Take it easy vodka witch."

Judy gave a sad smile and said "Those were the days, when all we had to worry about were the underworld trio, now we've got terrorists killing cops." Judy took all four glasses and passed them around, she raised her own and toasted "To the departed."

"To the departed." The others chorused before taking a sip of their drinks.

Nick let the scotch burn his throat before asking "So, what were you holding back at the press conference Skye? I've known you too long to know when you're keeping a secret."

Skye shook her head before saying to Jack "You said he'd figure it out."

"Nick's the best hustler I know, which is probably why he's a great mayor." Jack smiled before taking a sip of bourbon.

"So what's the story Skye?" Nick pressed.

"The attacks on the Rose Thorn and the ZPD officers, it looks like they were diversions." Skye said, her voice barely hiding her anger at the situation.

"Wait, what do you mean diversions?" Judy asked, stepping forward.

"While the ZPD were occupied with attacks the Phelps arms munitions storage facility was raided by The Drowned, they've now got enough weapons to start a small war." Skye explained.

"Jesus Christ," Nick cursed "so what kind of weapons are we talking about?"

"Guns, RPGs, mortars, land mines, assault vehicles, they picked the place clean." Jack listed "And that isn't the worse thing."

"What is?" Judy asked, dreading the answer.

"The MCB were transporting all the captured Drowned cultists to prison but the three buses and four escort vehicles just disappeared like that." Skye answered with a snap of her fingers. "It's clear that MCB had Drowned in it's ranks."

"Oh god…how many prisoners?" Judy had to ask.

"128." Skye revealed.

"And with the Drowned only having eighteen killed and thirty six captured in last night's attacks they are still up in rank." Jack added in a bitter tone.

"Now I know why you omitted it." Nick said to Skye with understanding.

"That makes what I'm going to say even tougher." Judy commented, taking a swig of vodka.

"Carrots?" Nick asked in a concerned voice.

"Last night at the Rose Thorn one of Rattigan's associates organised a video chat between me and him." Judy told.

"Wait, what!?" Skye barked.

"Since when was Rattigan back in Zootopia?!" Jack exclaimed.

"I got intel yesterday afternoon that he was at the Rose Thorn, I kept the raid on a need to know basis but someone is rotten on my team and informed Rattigan of the raid, the asshole even left me an autograph picture with the message 'Better luck next time' on it." Judy told "Anyway a mercenary hired by the professor gave a smartphone at the scene and basically held my officers hostage whilst I talked with Rattigan."

"Sweetheart…" Nick mumbled, taking hold of Judy's spare paw.

"So what did he have to say?" Skye questioned.

"He wanted to make an alliance." Judy answered with a look on her face that made it seem like the words scolded her tongue.

"What did he offer?" Jack quizzed.

"That he would take of The Drowned in return for the authorities looking the other way when it came to his business transactions." Judy elaborated "He said that we tolerated Mr. Big's enterprises for years so we should allow his."

"Big was different, he was an honourable shrew, even though he tried to 'Ice' me." Nick spoke before supping his whiskey.

"But he made so many arguments, he asked for one year, a whole year of the ZPD looking the other way while he flooded our streets with drugs in exchange for the end of The Drowned." Judy explained "I was tempted, but I said no."

"And what was his reaction?" Skye was itching to know.

"He was actually rather polite about it, which was creepy." Judy informed.

"You did the right thing, Judy." Jack replied, admiring how the police chief didn't submit.

"Jack's right, you stuck to your guns." Nick smiled at the love of his life.

"That isn't the difficult thing I had to say." Judy stated.

"Then what is it?" Skye asked, arching an eyebrow.

"As soon as I finished chatting with Rattigan three members of Team Ceartais showed up to help my officers fight The Drowned, the other members were helping the ambushed cops in Savannah central." Judy described.

"Yeah, we saw the news reports, so?" Jack shrugged.

"I think the city should deputise Team Ceartais." Judy proposed.

Skye choked on her bourbon and spluttered "Are you kidding me?"

"Carrots you can't be serious?" Nick asked with disbelief.

"Look every night they go out on the streets and help clean them up, they take care of the Razors, The Drowned and everyone in between, if we make them official allies we'll have an advantage over The Drowned." Judy reasoned.

"And the NSA and Homeland security isn't an advantage?" Nick countered.

"Oh come on Nick, the ZPD and MCB have been on The Drowned's tail for months and we've got zero results, what makes you think the guys from Washington can do any better?" Judy barbed.

"Judy we can't do this, is it even legal?" Skye declared.

"Yes; I've read up on local law and in times of crisis the mayor of Zootopia and figurehead in the police force can make mammals deputies to help bring about peace in the city. Well I'd say now we've got a hell of crisis." Judy commanded her point and stamped her foot in annoyance.

"The Undying Scarlet saved my life, Spitfire saved Luna. We know these are good mammals, maybe it isn't such a bad idea." Jack dissected.

"It's a slippery slope Jack, one day we have vigilantes the next day we have militias and some innocent mammal ends up getting killed by a trigger happy civilian." Skye argued.

"And you know how I feel about vigilantes," Nick said with distain "you saw what it did to my family, I never want a family to go through what I went through. If we give them legal immunity then only more will come."

"Nick look at the bigger picture, this whole thing is going to get worse before it gets better. We need these heroes' help." Jack tried to convince his best friend.

"…No. We know nothing about these guys, they dress up in costumes and fight crime in the middle of the night, there not exactly mentally stable." Nick stated his case "Until we know more about Ceartais we're going to rely on professionally trained law enforcement."

000

It was just after 2am and Ronin was sat on a gargoyle of an old church in Savannah central confirming with all her contractors that her services had been utilised on her smartphone; three assassinations with two of them made to luck like 'Accidents'. Ronin gave a small smile as she checked one of her many secret bank accounts and saw that the money had transferred successfully.

Satisfied with her night's work Ronin eyed the Outlander Apartments about half mile away and started descending the church tower and made her way across the rooftops and towards her home. As she ran over the rooftops she couldn't help but think of Jasiri; her landlady and more importantly her friend. Ronin thought about how Jasiri wouldn't take for no for answer that morning and convinced her to not let her sadness rule her and to not give up, her mind flickered images of Jasiri smiling at her throughout the day and all the fun times they had on their girl's day out, Jasiri was the first mammal in her life never to want to harm her or want something from her, the spotted hyena was just there to be a friend. It was truly a blissful feeling to have a friend, even though she'd have to say goodbye one day, sure right now there was a lot of work in Zootopia but at any second she could get a phone call luring her to a job worth hundreds of thousands on the other side of the globe. If that happened she would have to pack up in an instant and get out the city through not so legal means, normally this would not stoke fear in the rabbit but for the first time since she completed her training she was afraid of losing something dear; a friendship.

But that was not the only thing she frightened to let go of, a certain vixen still played on her mind. Ronin knew it was foolish to dwell on, Andraste had a life and boyfriend outside of this mad world Ronin felt so at home in, she considered herself stupid for thinking that the red vixen would abandon her lover and normal life to slum it with a contract killer….and yet. That was annoying words replaying like a broken record in the bunny's mind 'And yet', Ronin knew Andraste was the same as her, that she was tainted by darkness and that a desire to break free of the chains of normality lay dormant within her. Ronin sensed these things when she first fought Andraste, the way she moved showed a censorship of her skills that indicated her holding back and then there was Andraste's eyes, those pools of amber appeared like a cage to the assassin, holding back her true self.

Ronin was thinking so much that she had even noticed her body 'Auto piloted' her to just one rooftop away from her apartment, she spied her second floor window and used a grappling hook to traverse the gap easily. She opened the window and climbed into her safe haven, where she was no longer Ronin but Alice. The white bunny placed her sword on the stand opposite her bed, she also removed her belts with her shuriken, smoke bombs and handgun and placed them on the dresser table, she also pulled down her skull mask and playfully threw her goggles on the post of her bed. Alice was half way to her wardrobe to retrieve her oversized t-shirt she slept in when she heard the window slam shut, she turned sharply to see the threatening silhouette of Andraste, with an tazer arrow drawn ready to knock out the bunny. "Andraste." Alice spoke, trying to calculate a strategy to both dodge the inevitable shot and grab a weapon.

"You know whenever I've found a lair of a foe, it's usually in cellar under a bar or a disused factory, sometimes there's a complex security system, armed guards. But for you just to have a normal one bedroom apartment, that's a surprise albeit a little disappointing." Andraste said in predatory manner, like a shark circling it's prey.

Alice knew if she was to stand a chance in this fight she'd have to coax the archer into firing first, dodge the arrow then while Andraste got another arrow from her quiver the assassin could at least grab her shuriken belt. "If you're going to just ridicule my home just shoot me, I'm in no mood for small talk."

"Trying to get me to start my attack, clever but predictable." Andraste saw right through the ruse.

Alice sighed at the fact she was caught out before replying "So are you just going to aim at me all night?"

Andraste gave a shrug and replied "Depends, I could just press my com and call for backup from my team and the ZPD causing you to strike first."

Alice was silent for a moment before letting out a chuckle "But you're not going to do that, you've hunted me on your own without your team mates, which means you want to take me on all by yourself."

"…You see right through me." Andraste gave a devilish smile.

"Just out of curiosity when did you start tracking me? I'm usually quite good at spotting someone tailing me." Alice queried.

"I found that body you left in the parking lot in the meadowlands, you were easy to follow after that, especially when you stopped at that church to check your phone." Andraste explained.

Alice cursed herself for being careless but also realised something "If you saw me at the church, why didn't you shoot me while I was distracted."

"Because I want this fight to be up close and personal," Andraste reasoned with vexation in her voice "I want to be close enough to hear your bones break and listen to you whimper pathetically."

Alice could see that Andraste's eyes were no longer clouded by restraint, her voice showed her confidence and her fire and a smile that showed both menace and enjoyment. Alice knew she should be intimidated but the fact was her heart was beating a little faster for another reason; she found this attractive. But the assassin shook off her yearning for the vigilante and responded smarmily with "Aww are you all mad because I was a little rough with your little sister?"

"A little rough!?" Andraste growled "You pinned her wrists with shuriken, slashed her across her chest, you shot her over and over, choked her with a garrotte wire then stabbed her in her stomach. How much rougher could you get!?"

"I could've chopped her head off or shot her in the head, you should be thanking me that you're not planning Scarlet's funeral." Alice countered "We both know that child needed a lesson in humility."

"That's what you call that? A lesson in humility? You traumatized my sister to teach her a lesson!?" Andraste snapped.

"That and I needed to blow off some steam." Alice added with a smirk. "The stupid girl should've listened when I told her to leave me be."

"Well I'm not going to leave you be, I'm going to make your hurt, make you cry and when I've finally broken you I'll hand you over to the police." Andraste simmered.

"…Fine but if we're going to fight can we please do it outside? My landlady and her boyfriend live in the apartment above mine and I don't want a stray shot hitting them." Alice requested.

Andraste started with a snigger but it grew into a mocking laugh "You're shitting with me? A cold blooded killer like you is worried about mammals getting hurt in the crossfire?"

"They're innocent, please Andraste." Alice implored.

"No." Andraste responded bluntly.

"No? But if there's a chance they could get hurt…" Alice flapped.

"Then let's not use our weapons," Andraste replied, setting her bow down on the carpet "we'll do this the old fashioned way."

"A fist fight? Wait, no, they'll hear us!" Alice worried.

"So? You broke my sister's body and her spirit so I'm going to return the favour and not only break your body but your peaceful little life too." Andraste threatened, taking off her quiver and placing it carefully beside her bow.

"I thought you were honourable." Alice breathed.

"Honour went out the window when you hurt Scarlet, now it's personal." Andraste clarified, unbuckling her auto-grapple belt that also holstered her twin daggers and letting it fall to the floor.

Alice stopped herself from shouting at Andrate in anger and instead said quietly "I'll have to defeat you in silence then." Getting into a fighting stance.

"Fat chance of that." Andraste said smugly, then like a flash she threw her hat at Alice's face blinding her temporarily, Alice batted the hat out of the way only to find a golden gloved fist flying at her face, the punch struck her cheek and sent her staggering back and was followed by another two hard punches to the face.

Alice countered Andraste by stamping on the vixen's foot, then elbowed her in the gut, gave a let punch to her sternum before upper cutting the red fox's chin with her right. Andraste let out a yelp of pain but grabbed Alice by the scruff of her neck and threw her at the wall, the hitwoman was stunned just long enough for the archer to send her foot to her throat, keeping her out of arm's reach and choking her. Alice wasn't in the choke hold for long, she bit down with force on Andraste's foot triggering a canine howl of pain and a let off just enough pressure for Alice to push her back and sent her falling to the floor, the bunny went to jump on the vulpine but as soon as she was mid air Andraste shot her foot up and connected with Alice's abdomen, the rabbit fell beside Andraste groaning and winded.

Then they both realised they were within reaching distance of Luna's daggers, they shared a vicious stare for a second before both grabbing a dagger each, Alice was faster and was able to pin Andraste before putting to the blade to her throat but it didn't go unnoticed to the swordswoman that the vixen had also positioned her own dagger at Alice's throat. They were both panting, both filled with fury, they could feel the cold metal of the blades against their skin threatening to tear them from life yet they did not falter; both of them looked ready to kill each other. They stayed like that for about ten seconds, Alice was hoping her end would be quick when something strange happened; Andraste removed her dagger from Alice's throat and tossed it aside, all the while looking at her foe with the same inferno-like eyes. Alice was about to question what was going on when Andraste gently kissed the bunny on the lips.

The kiss stunned Alice, her mind unable to cope with the suddenness of the affection, she thought that it surely must be a trap and yet she pulled her blade away from the vixen's throat and let it fall onto the carpet as the two continued to kiss. The kiss became more heated as it went on, and a little more ferocious, Andraste would let a lust filled snarl emanate from her muzzle while Alice would pull back and impishly bite the vigilante's bottom lip in dominating manner. Andraste giggled darkly before using her strength to throw Alice onto the bed, but the bunny knew deep down that no attack was coming.

Andraste began to unlace her bodice while looking ravenously at Alice; the bunny was hungry for intimacy as well and was savouring the alluring striptease, but then it her, a horrible wave of doubt and guilt that caused her to blurt out "W-wait we can't!"

Andraste paws stopped untying the straps of her uniform and she playfully asked back "Why can't we?"

"Look, we're enemies, you hate me, remember? And you've got…well…a boyfriend." Alice rambled, hardly believing she was willingly ready to give up on sleeping with her crush.

Andraste saw the guilty look on the killer's face, took a step towards her, put a paw on her cheek and confided "The other me has a boyfriend, the other me has a normal life, goes to work and hangs out with her family and friends. But the real me, the one you're looking at right now is lonely, because I've never met someone like me, who knows what it's like to live in the shadows but that's until I met you; Ronin. So will you share tonight with me? We can worry about everything else tomorrow."

" _Oui,_ and please call me Alice." She agreed, feeling an odd sense of safety "And who's under your mask."

Andraste reached up to her domino mask and removed it and threw it beside her bow and quiver "Just stick with Andraste."

Alice wasn't bothered by not knowing the vigilante's real name, all that she knew was that she wanted her. "Ok Andrate." Alice smiled feeling her whole face heat up.

(AN/ What did you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! I'm ready for a lot of hate. Please review and c ya soon...)


	27. Shatter

(AN/Ok so this was an interesting week; the ship war is pretty much 50/50 yet sending homophobic hate mail and death threats to me and other members of the soc development team is not cool, if you don't like a ship then voice your opinion in a polite manner. But thank you to the polite and respectful folks who shared their views in the proper manner. A big thanks to the SOC dev team for helping crafting this chapter and to Ziegelzeig who created the OC Alice Kirabito AKA Ronin. So without further ado let's get cracking...)

 **Chapter 26- Shatter**

Most mammals have that moment when they wake up and wonder if they are still dreaming and that was happening for a certain vixen right about now; Luna's amber eyes had opened and realised she was not in the bed she usually shared with Aleks. The bedding was a different colour, the room was smaller and the skyline out of the window was different, it looked like a dream but the feel of the sheets and the smell of the room made her doubt that theory, she looked under the sheets to find she wasn't wearing anything. As she sat up in bed a divine French voice greeted "Good morning."

Luna's amber eyes shot to the doorway and saw a white furred female bunny wearing an oversized t shirt holding two mugs of coffee. The vixen panicked and grabbed the duvet to cover her bare chest before screeching "Who the hell are you!?"

Alice had a dumbfounded look on her face as she replied "Um, it's me Alice?"

"Where the hell am I?" Luna demanded in a frightened tone "How did I get here?"

"My apartment and you climbed through the window, are you feeling ok Andi?" Alice asked back, growing quite concerned.

"Andi? Who the heck is Andi?!" Luna barked.

"Andi as in Andraste, are you playing with me right now? Because it's not funny." Alice reacted, feeling wounded as she put the coffee mugs down on the dresser table.

"Andraste." Luna mumbled in fear, this bunny knew that she was a vigilante. As anxiety began to grip her mind she looked across the room and a saw familiar katana in a red scabbard on a stand, her eyes then darted back to Alice and yelled "You're Ronin!?"

"Of course I am, look Andi this isn't funny." Alice retorted, getting agitated.

Luna got up from the bed in a very cautious manner using the sheet to cover her body, looking around the room for weapons and figuring that they were most likely in the locked black trunk near the sword stand, but then she looked at Alice and wondered why the assassin was not acting in a defensive manner "Why are you just standing there!? Why aren't you attacking me?" She snapped.

"Why would I attack you? Especially after last night." Alice said, getting more scared than confused.

"Last night? What are you talking about?" Luna asked, fearing the answer.

"You tracked me back here, you wanted to get back at me for hurting Scarlet, we fought but we ended up kissing again and then-" Alice tried to explain.

"We kissed?!" Luna barked, but then Luna questioned the fact that she was naked and that her enemy was being very friendly "Oh god, did we, you know?"

"Have sex? Yes…are you saying don't remember?" Alice asked, looking hurt.

"Did you drug me!" It was more of accusation than a question from the surgeon.

"What!? No, you instigated everything! I tried to stop you because you had a boyfriend, but you said 'The real me wants you'." Alice paraphrased.

Luna froze at those words, she tried to recall the last memory she formed, she was in the bunker she told Olivia she was going to track Ronin and the mouse had wished her luck then nothing. Luna had wanted her more aggressive side to help in her hunt, she had willingly submitted to this other side of her and the worst thing she feared was that Ronin would wind up dead but instead she had slept with her. Luna let out a low growl "I can't believe her! That bitch!"

"Who's a bitch?" Alice asked, noticing the unsure and clouded look had returned to her lover's eyes.

"Andraste, I trusted her and she does this!" Luna snarled.

"Um, you're Andraste though?" Alice pointed out.

"No, I'm Luna." Luna replied in frustration before clasping a paw over her mouth in frustration and muttering under her breath "Shit."

"Luna? Wait but you're still the same vixen from last night…right?" Alice questioned, growing more unsure by the second.

"No you slept with Andraste, not me…we're different, look it's hard to explain." Luna stressed.

"So…it's like you're two sides of the same coin, the same body but different sides?" Alice hypothesised, while trying to appear calm but her heart was shattering like glass.

"Basically." Luna sighed before her face morphed back to anger "Wait a second! You're a criminal, why the hell am I talking to you?"

"I'm not a criminal, I'm an assassin. There is difference." Alice snorted "And besides, Andi didn't seem to care."

"Like I said before, I am NOT Andraste." Luna barbed back "Just you wait, I know where you live and team cear…wait no, no I can't tell them, they'll know what happened."

"Look, Luna, was it? Let's just calm down." Alice eased, walking closer to the mentally stricken vixen.

"How can I calm down!? I've cheated on my boyfriend, oh god, I have to tell him, I can't keep it secret!" Luna rambled.

"It's like you said; you're not Andraste. You didn't cheat, she did." Alice convinced both herself and Luna "Your boyfriend never has to know."

"But I don't want to keep this from him…I've already put him through so much." Luna began to cry.

Alice knew she had to repair the situation, even if it would break her heart. She took a deep breath before offering "Ok, how about we make a deal?"

"A deal?" Luna sniffed, tears staining her beautiful amber eyes.

"Here it is; I won't breath a word about any of this; what we did or your name, also I help you get to wherever you need to go and in return you never target me at home, if you catch me while I'm Ronin so be it, that's fair enough right?" Alice bargained.

"And I have your word?" Luna asked, attempting to appear stoic despite her weeping.

"You said when we first met that I was an honourable warrior, then please trust the word of this warrior." Alice persuaded, extending her paw for a handshake.

Luna quickly shook Alice's paw before snatching it back "Well…Alice, can you at least tell me where my clothes are?" Luna asked coldly.

Alice pulled an awkward face before answering "Your mask, hat, bodice, and weapons are in that bag over there," pointing at sports bag in the corner of the room "but your trousers and underwear are…well…gone."

"You've got to be kidding me." Luna groaned, guessing what had happened "So how am I supposed to go home with no pants?"

"I can text my friend, she's a hyena, her clothes may be a little big on you but it's better than trying to squeeze into my clothes." Alice offered.

"Tch, fine." Luna tutted, marching over to the bag and hastily retrieved her phone that she kept concealed in one of the pouches on her belt, she read the screen and gasped at the 74 missed calls. Most were from Aleks, the others were Olivia and her nana Marian. "Shit, shit, shit." She cursed as she selected Aleks' number and began a call.

It only took Aleks a few seconds to pick up " _Luna!? You ok?"_ the polish fox sounded beside himself with worry.

"I'm fine Aleks, just things on my hunt didn't go as planned." Luna was trying to sound positive but internally her heart was tearing itself apart with guilt.

" _What happened? Did you find Ronin?"_ Aleks asked, sounding tired and anxious as if he had been up all night.

"Yeah, I found her, but she beat me." Luna responded, the lies burning her throat "She managed to stab me with one of my own tranq arrows."

Alice took her mug of coffee and made her way out of the bedroom, leaving Luna to converse with her true love, the bunny's head hung low and her ears were droopy as she wandered into her kitchen, her brain trying to figure out how a passion filled night had turned into a morning full of heartbreak. When Alice had woken up this morning she found she herself encircled by her dream vixen's warm and beautiful body, Alice had been hugging onto Andraste's long brush whilst she slept. The French/Japanese lapin had simply stared at the vixen's ravishing face for about ten minutes with her heart fluttering all the while, she actually thought her luck was changing, that she had found someone like her but now within moments of the vixen waking up the hope of a kindred spirit had faded and now Luna only saw Alice as she saw herself…a monster. "You know you don't deserve to be happy." Alice whispered to herself, looking at the breakfast she had prepared for herself and her lover so happily and now feeling pathetic. She sat at the kitchen table and nibbled on some honeyed toast while texting Jasiri about the clothing predicament, while the terrible nature of the situation weighed heavy on her mind.

Luna then appeared in the kitchen, with the sheet still wrapped around her to cover her body "Ok, my boyfriend and the team think you knocked me out last night, that's one crisis out of the way," she sighed, clearly stressed "did you text your friend?"

" _Oui,_ she'll about half an hour, she's waiting for one of her employees to turn up at the store." Alice explained, finding it hard to look Luna in the eye.

"Store? Wait is your friend normal?" Luna scoffed.

"Yes, she doesn't know what I do for a living," Alice confirmed but stating "and I'd like to keep it that way."

"A deal's a deal," Luna reminded "I'm just shocked a little psycho like you has a normal life."

"That's rich coming from the girl with two personalities in her head." Alice sniped "Besides I'm sure you have a regular life besides being an archer. I bet you're shacked up with Rojek and playing the perfect little girlfriend."

"How did you know Aleks' surname?" Luna half snarled.

"He told me you two were dating at the Rose Thorn." Alice told before chuckling darkly "Wait, he didn't tell you?"

"No…but we had a lot going on that night," Luna justified "but I know what you did my sister."

The temporary malice Alice had possessed quickly shrank away and was replaced with a guilty look "Yeah, Andi was pretty angry at me too." She uttered.

"Andraste was mad over Scarlet? I don't buy it." Luna dismissed.

"It's true," Alice insisted "we both had daggers at each other's throats before things…you know."

Luna still looked pissed as she simmered "What you did to my sister was just sick. You could've just stopped after you downed her but you didn't, you just kept torturing her like the maniac you are."

Alice took a breath before admitting "What I did to Scarlet was wrong, I know that, I've been thinking about what I did since it happened, it was evil and monstrous…but we both know that girl needed a lesson or even better be convinced to quit."

"You broke her! You're just twisted!" Luna barked.

"I know!" Alice yelled, close to tears "But if you love your sister you should have never let her into this world…she's too young, she should be enjoying her teenage years not facing monsters like me."

"Robbie chose this life herself, no one forced her." Luna snapped, before realising she had blurted her sister's name.

Alice just sighed again before saying "You may as well just use real names, we made a deal and my word is my bond."

"Forgive me if I'm still apprehensive." Luna scorned, fixing her sheet.

"Fine you want to know my name? It's Alice Kirabito." Alice announced "Everyone thinks I'm a grad student and that I tutor high school French but that's just a cover, you know what I really am."

Luna knew she didn't have to reveal anything but for some reason she wanted to show her enemy that she wasn't afraid "Dr. Luna Elise Wilde, I'm a paediatric general surgeon, that's not a cover." Luna introduced herself.

"You're the mayor's daughter?" Alice gasped "So that means Chief Wilde…"

"Is my Mom…well Step Mom, technically." Luna explained "But yes they are parents."

"So Scarlet was that girl I saw on the news at the victory party...oh god, she is just a child." Alice lamented "And a hybrid, it makes so much sense, she moved like a rabbit but was bigger than a hare."

"Don't act like you care about what you did, you're a killer, you have no remorse." Luna barbed.

Alice's annoyance began to reappear on her face, she locked eyes with Luna and said proudly "You're right I don't regret killing any of my targets, because they were scum…just like me."

"Oh come on, you kill for the money, whether the mammal is good or bad wouldn't matter to you." Luna accused in critical voice.

"I've never killed an innocent, ever." Alice declared "For example I killed a Llama back in New York who was about to snitch to the IRS, this was the same guy who killed a six year old kid in a hit and run and got off on a technicality. Those three hits last night? One was a serial rapist and the other two were enforcers for the mob."

"But you stabbed Robyn the first time you met, you didn't know she was immortal and yet she's innocent." Luna remembered.

"Scarlet is a warrior, like you, I have no problem killing a soldier in war." Alice justified

"What war?" Luna queried.

"Against crime, in a way we're both crimefighters." Alice answered.

"You don't fight crime, you allow it to grow, you work for Rattigan." Luna disagreed while looking at Alice with disgust.

"Crime will never be defeated, but it can be controlled. Rattigan doesn't want chaos in the streets like the Razors or The Drowned. Is Rattigan evil? Of course he is but at least he'll keep crime under control." Alice argued.

"Well there's a right side and a wrong side in every war and you chose the wrong side." Luna replied, sounding sure of herself "Anyone who chooses to be an Assassin is just plain evil."

" 'Chooses to be an Assassin'? You think I chose this life?" Alice uttered, her golden eyes narrowing. Suddenly she hopped off her chair and in a one swift movement removed her large t-shirt covering her naked form.

Luna quickly averted her gaze before shouting "Why the hell are you getting naked?

Alice stood there with a stony expression on her face, her heavily scarred body trembled slightly as she pointed to a jagged scar that horizontal over abs "I want you to look at this scar!" Alice demanded.

Luna returned her view to the rabbit and did her best to ignore Alice's more intimate parts and focused on the scar "What about it?" She asked in an irked tone.

"I don't remember much about my parents but I do remember we were on vacation in Japan when I was abducted." Alice told with a strained voice "I was seven years old and bundled into a van, the next thing I now I was in a cage with five other girls around my age, all of us were different species. We were terrified and crying, none of us knew what was happening. Then a figure stepped out of the shadows, it was a amur leopard, in her paw was a shard of glass, she placed it in arms reach of the cage and told us if we didn't want to be sold we'd have to scar ourselves. None of the other girls were brave enough but I did..."

"Ronin…" Luna was lost for words.

"All the other girls were sold by the Yakuza just like the leopard said, I was beaten within an inch of my life for scarring myself, the clan boss was about to kill me when the leopard said she could train me to be like her. At that moment I lost my childhood." Alice forced, her hands beginning to shake.

"I…" Luna couldn't form a sentence at the moment, she was just shocked.

"Oh it get's better!" Alice hissed with sarcasm "I was trained to be a killer from that day on, no fun, no friends, no mercy." She turned around so her back was facing Luna, her back was even more scared than her front but most noticeable was the brand between her shoulder blades, the burnt skin showed a Japanese letter "You see that brand? It's kanji for 'Death', I got that burnt into my skin as a reward for my first kill…I was ten and forced to fight this badger not much older than me, I still see that poor boy's face in my nightmares."

"Alice…I'm sorry." Luna spoke, her hatred for the rabbit at odds with her sympathy.

Alice turned around with her golden eyes weeping "No, you're not I'm just a killer, remember?" she cried, grabbing her t shirt and putting it back on.

"Look I-" Luna started but was interrupted.

"I was dragged into hell but you and the rest of Ceartais walked into the fire willingly, so who's the twisted one really?" Alice asked with venom "…You have everything I ever wanted; family, friends and someone who loves you yet you chose to put on that mask and pick up that bow. Why?"

"…Because I enjoy it, because I can help mammals and I hate to admit but I get a rush from being a vigilante. It isn't like I haven't made mistakes, god knows I've made mistakes but I can't stop." Luna replied honestly "What about you? If you hate your life so much, why don't you quit?"

"Killing is the only thing I was ever good at and assassinating monsters like me keeps innocents safe plus it pays the bills." Alice admitted, tears still falling from her eyes "Even if I wanted to quit and live a normal life it wouldn't last, I've made a lot of enemies on both sides of the law. They would find me, kill me and everyone else I care about…Monsters are lonely creatures for a reason Luna."

Alice walked out of the kitchen causing Luna to asked in a worried tone "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get changed, you should eat some breakfast." Alice replied in a morose tone.

Luna watched as the bunny walked out of view, her head now muddled with the questions regarding the assassin _Is she really evil? She calls herself a monster, why? She hurt Robbie so why am I feeling sorry for her? All those scars, why did my heart race when I saw them? Why did Andraste sleep wiith her? What am I going to tell Aleks? I can't keep this a secret from him!_ Luna was actually quite hungry and while this maelstrom of thoughts swirled in her mind, she had eaten two slices of jam on toast and a banana. Feeling curious the vixen got up from the kitchen table and decided to explore the rest of the apartment, she made her way into the living room and was surprised by how messy and cluttered it was.

There were unwashed clothes and knickers spread around the room, there were video games cases spread on the coffee table mostly consisting of samurai or ninja games but there was the odd Japanese dating sim thrown in there. Luna wandered over to a packed and unorganised bookshelf and found some collections of poetry by Victor Hugo, Guillaume Apollinaire and other French poets but the majority of the books were volumes of manga, mostly of the samurai genre but some clearly were pure fluffy romance. Couple these manga and all the video games Luna voiced her realisation "She's a nerd?"

"I prefer Otaku." A voice sighed behind her.

Luna turned around to see the forlorn Alice dressed in a pair of black jeggings with a long sleeve dark blue rugby jersey that was in fact a replica of the French National Rugby Team's shirt. Luna got a flicker of the word 'Cute' flash through her mind but pushed it to the back of her mind before saying "You don't seem the type to be geeky."

"What? Assassins can't nerd out?" Alice asked with a sad smile before noticing that a pair of knickers with cartoon frogs on them were on the sofa, she quickly snatched them away in embarrassment, nearly tripping over in doing so.

Luna saw this and couldn't help but titter "Chill out, I've already seen you naked, it's not like seeing your panties is any worse."

Alice looked at her feet and mumbled "I guess…" while subconsciously pulling down her sleeve that showed one of her scars.

Luna picked up on this action and said softly "Don't read too much into this but you shouldn't be ashamed of your scars, they're beautiful."

Alice stiffened at these words and her fur stood on end, she knew she was blushing under her fur even though she knew her embarrassment would be replaced with sadness soon enough. "Andi said the same thing." Alice replied.

Luna didn't seem surprised by this, she had a thing for scars herself and would often marvel at Aleks' old wounds "Well that's one thing me and her agree on." She figured.

Alice was still avoiding eye contact with Luna when she asked a difficult question "You're not like me are you? This side of you isn't queer?"

Luna couldn't help but feel a little pang in her chest when she answered "Sorry, it's like I said in the Rainforest District; I'm hetero and not inter." _…I think._

"But Andi is into females? _Merde,_ this sucks." Alice regretted.

"So what do you identify as? Sexuality wise I mean." Luna quizzed.

"I'm pansexual and inter." Alice answered simply, but her tone was still down.

There was a lull of silence between the two, it was the definition of an awkward silence but Luna felt like she needed say something to bunny she saw both as an enemy but also as a clearly heartbroken mammal. "I'm sorry that this happened, I'm sorry Andraste seduced you, if I'd have known her intentions I would've never let her take control and I'm sorry she led you on. You're still my enemy but I feel guilty that you're hurting over this." Luna spoke from the heart.

Alice let the words sink in for a few seconds, her eyes met Luna's before responding "I'm sorry for messing up your relationship with Rojek, I'm sorry for hurting your sister and I'm sorry for making this morning a nightmare for you. But I won't apologise for what I shared with Andi last night…that was one of the best nights of my life and even though it will never happen again I don't want to look back on it with sorrow."

Luna looked like she was going to add something when a knock at the door came and a bright voice greeted "Hey girl, it's me, open up."

Luna looked panicked so Alice whispered "Go to the bathroom and take a shower, I'll deal with my friend."

Luna nodded in agreement and dashed towards the bathroom while Alice went and answered the door. Ten minutes later Luna stepped out of the bathroom and went back to the living room with two bunny sized towels covering her nude form. Alice had laid out some clothing options for Luna on the sofa, "Hey, I told my friend you were a vixen so she said these might work." Alice quickly explained, before pointing to each article of clothing "Ok so we got her really short shorts that you could tighten with a belt, a pair of sweatpants or one of her strappy tops which actually would look like a dress on you."

Luna looked at the top, it was slim yet long enough to look like a dress on her, she picked it up before saying to Alice "Can you turn around please?"

"Oh y-yeah." Alice realised, swiftly turning around to let Luna change.

After a few seconds Luna signalled "You can turn around now."

Alice turned back around and was surprised by how much the top did look like a dress on the beautiful red fox but she felt it would be weird to compliment her, given the circumstances. Instead she just handed Luna the large sports bag with her gear in "Here, I put fifty dollars in there so you can get a taxi home." Alice informed, trying to be strong.

"Thank you." Luna replied, still feeling awkward. She walked to the front door with Alice following, as she put her paw on the handle she looked down at the doe and asked nervously "The next time we meet can we act like this never happened?"

"I think that's for the best." Alice hated to admit. There was no goodbye, Luna just opened the door, stepped through and promptly shut it behind her. Alice stood there, her soul shook to the core, thinking it was impossible to feel this much heartache in the space of an hour. Her eyes were full of tears again as she crashed onto the sofa, buried her face in a cushion and began to cry.

000

Olivia Dawson was happy that Luna was safe and sound, she had been worried about ever since she heard from Marian that she hadn't checked in but after the brief call from the archer Olivia's attention was supposed to return to her work…but that didn't happen. The brown mouse was in her personal lab in the Dawson Tech building, she was supposed to be testing a new type of ultrasound machine but instead she was nibbling on candy, as usual, listening to death metal at the max volume, as usual and thinking about her fathers' connection to Rattigan. Marian had been digging into Basil and David's past and as of yet had found no link between the mice of science and the rat kingpin, only that all three of them were English which was not a lot to go on.

Olivia was also dwelling on Blake, ever since her undercover mission at the Rose Thorn she hadn't heard off the strapping rodent, she had called and left messages but he hadn't replied to a single one. She knew the reason of course; his father Professor Padraic Rattigan. The drug lord's return was most certainly putting the straight arrow Blake through the wringer.

Suddenly Olivia's music stopped, bringing the engineer out of her daze, she knew the only reason the music would stop without her doing so was that her Personal Assistant Pua was alerting her about something. She scooted over to her workstation and looked at the CCTV feed of Pua's desk and gasped when she saw Blake stood on the desk casually chatting with the pig. Olivia raced towards the lab exit, which was quite a distance for a mouse, before exiting through the rodent sized door and contain her happiness at seeing her boyfriend "Blake!" she happily squeaked, looking up at the desk.

"H-hey." Blake responded, the muscle bound rat looked timid and nervous.

"Miss Dawson, I've just be chatting to your lovely fella and I can't believe a little devil like you snagged an angel like him." Pua gushed, lowering his trotter so Olivia could climb on.

"Pua, stop." Olivia reacted in a shy manner, knowing that her assistant was a natural shipper. She hopped off onto the desk a few inches from Blake and couldn't believe how hard her heart was beating, it had only been a few days but she had missed him greatly.

"Ok so I'm going to take my break, I'll be back in a bit." Pua smiled at the couple, before making a speedy exit to the elevator so the couple could be alone.

As soon as the elevator door closed Olivia sprung at Blake and hugged him tightly, Blake appeared startled but soon enough hugged back, he had obviously longed to be near her too. "Hellfire, how I've missed you." Olivia confessed, not wanting to let go of the brawny rodent.

"I missed you too," Blake said softly before adding "I'm sorry I didn't call or text." Each word soaked in guilt.

"It's ok, you're here now, that's all that matters." Olivia eased, breathing in her lover's scent.

Blake pulled back from the hug and sighed "I've been avoiding you cos' I got some bad news the other day and I've been trying to process it."

"Is everything ok?" Olivia asked, fully knowing what was bothering him.

"Not really," Blake said, looking more reserved by the second "you know my Mom was a single parent? And that I said my Dad was a waste of space who ran off years ago? Well he's back in Zootopia and I saw him the other night."

"Blake, I'm so sorry that must be horrible." The mouse sympathised.

"Look…he's a bad mammal, like the worst possible kind, but I feel like if I don't tell you about him I'm betraying you." Blake struggled.

"Don't be daft, so your old man is bad news, I don't care about him, you're the one who matters to me." Olivia encouraged

"No Olivia, I gotta' tell ya' this, it's been eating at me." Blake said, his face showcasing his tormented emotions "Ok here it is; my father is Rattigan, the mobster."

Olivia wasn't shocked by news she had already heard but at the small tears forming in her lover's eyes, she took hold of Blake's paw and spoke "It doesn't matter Blake, I don't care if your dad is the devil himself, you're not your dad. You are the most honest, most sweet and most caring rat in this city."

"Sweetheart…" Blake mumbled, subconsciously holding Olivia's paw a tighter.

"Because this weekend I'm introducing you to my Dads and I know they're going to see what I see when I look at you." Olivia spoke with absolute honesty, she gathered her courage to add three more words that she had wanted to say since the Rose Thorn "I love you."

Blake's eyes went wide and his jaw fell slack at this confession, he gawped "You…"

"I know we've only been dating a short time but it's the truth; I love you Blake Gusteau." Olivia professed, her cheeks feeling like two bonfires.

Blake didn't let logic control his reaction, only his heart, he lifted up the slender mouse and held her so they were level with each other before declaring "And I love you Olivia Dawson." The two then joined lips in a kiss that was soft and gentle but inside both of their hearts had melted with love.

000

"Why are we here?" Robyn huffed, leaning on the wall of the Bunker's elevator "It's not even our shift today and I've had crappy day at school, can't we just go to BuggaBurger?"

"We're going to train," Hannah replied in a chipper voice "it'll help beat your blues."

"There is a reason why I'm feeling down Babe." Robyn answered back, the memory of her fight with Ronin was still fresh.

"Look I know you're not feeling the best right now," Hannah empathised, taking a step closer to her girlfriend "but working out always cheers you up."

"I dunno'." Robyn mumbled, wanting to go home, hide under her covers and watch old kung fu movies.

Hannah boldly grabbed Robyn and brought her in for a deep kiss, the ginger hybrid moaning slightly and thumping her foot as Hannah massaged her weak spot behind her right ear. Just as the elevator reached the bottom Hannah ceased the kiss, pulled back and willed "Trust me."

"Ok…" Robyn responded in a dreamy tone, giving a lovesick expression.

The door opened and both teens stepped out hand in hand, to find the two surviving MM gang members waiting for them, Marian and Robin senior were smiling at the young couple as they approached them. "Why have I got a feeling I'm being set up?" Robyn asked playfully, nudging her grinning girlfriend.

"That's because you are being set up, my dear." Marian chimed in "We've got a little gift for you."

Robin senior presented a metal briefcase and handed it to his namesake "You're going to need this." The old fox smiled.

Robyn set the case on the ground, and flicked the catches open and lifted the lid, inside was one of her uniforms but with some notable changes, a pair of red coloured metal gauntlets with six sharp hooks on each one "What are these for?" Robyn asked, lifting one of the gauntlets out of the case.

"Those are made out of the same metal Olivia built Spitfire with, both bullet and blade proof, you'll need some kind of defence if you're going to beat Ronin." Marian explained.

"…I appreciate this, but I don't think I'll ever-" Robyn began to self pity but was halted by her grandfather.

"Quit it with that talk, young lady, you're a member of Ceartais. You're not going to let one defeat keep you down, we're going to train every day to get you ready." Robin senior rallied, before tossing what looked like a small black stick to Robyn.

Robyn caught it before pressing the red button in the side of the plastic stick, suddenly a telescopic metal rod rose from the end of the handle. Robyn twirled the nightstick in her hand and suddenly felt a lot more confident, she looked at her grandparents and smirked "Let's get started."

000

Luna had kept in constant text contact with Aleks since leaving Alice's place, the young cop had cut short his sick leave and was back with his SWAT team at precinct 1. Luna had gone home and changed into her own clothes before calling her therapist's office, but the vixen was horrified to learn that Dr Thrash was vacation and wouldn't be back for five days. This was disastrous, she needed to sort out this Andraste personality mess, either with therapy or drugs and Thrash was the only mammal who could help her, but what she needed help with most was the overwhelming sense of guilt she felt over cheating on Aleks. She tried to tell herself that it was Andraste's fault but that didn't make it any better, she felt like the worst mammal on the planet at the moment. She needed to talk someone before she went crazy but she had so few options; she wasn't ready to tell Aleks, she was terrified of what Robyn might say and she knew if she spoke to Olivia or any other members of the team they'd demand to know Ronin's location. All these factors left her with one obvious option.

Luna stepped into precinct 1 and immediately she noticed it seemed like a much different place than when she last visited, there were armed guards at the doors and there were a lot more mammals in suits and national guard than before. Luna went towards the staircase leading to her Mom's office and her way was instantly blocked by a yak national guardsman "State your business." He ordered.

"I'm here to see my Mom, Chief Wilde." Luna answered in a polite manner.

"Chief Wilde is a Rabbit, you sure as hell look don't look like no cottontail." The Yak sniggered.

"I'm fully aware of my Mom's species and my own, now can I please pass?" Luna asked, slightly irritated.

"How do I know you're not Drowned? You could be a killer, maybe I should detain you and interrogate you." The Yak blustered.

"Just radio to your guy upstairs and get them to ask my Mom if I can come up." Luna instructed, refusing to be intimidated.

"You telling me how to my job, fox?" The Yak asked in a threatening manner.

The penny finally dropped for Luna, this guy was speciest against vulpines but she wasn't backing down "Radio upstairs now or I'll make sure Chief Wilde knows that there is a prejudice national guardsman in her precinct, my mom has a zero tolerance policy against that shit."

"Are you threatening me, fox?" The Yak asked in a cold voice, flicking the safety off of his assault rifle.

Luna knew she could disarm the yak easily if he went to shoot her, it had been a terrible day and she was nearly at her breaking point. "Listen, you-" Luna began to tirade but was stopped by a high pitched squeal.

"O.M. Goodness, is that little Lulu?" Clawhauser nearly shrieked as rushed over and wrapped the vixen in a hug.

"Benjamin." Luna breathed, glad to see a friendly face, hugging the chubby cheetah back.

"What is the most adorable vixen in all of Zootopia doing in this drab little precinct?" Clawhauser asked mischievously "Could it be you're having a secret rendezvous with a certain spectacles wearing silver fox?"

Luna felt a stabbing sensation in her chest when Clawhauser mentioned Aleks but she quickly replied "Aleks is actually on a raid at the moment, I'm just here to see my Mom, but I'm having trouble getting past this mall cop." Luna glared at the national guardsman.

The yak ignored the jibe and asked Clawhauser directly "You know this girl?"

"Yeah I've known her since she was little kit, this is the Chief's daughter." Clawhauser replied, giving the yak a judging look.

The Yak grunted "Go on ahead." Before stepping aside.

"Thanks Benjamin." Luna smiled, kissing the cheetah on the cheek before making her way up to her Mom's office. But when she got in ten feet of her office she could her mom yelling at someone over the phone while her Mom's two secretaries rushed around trying to sort out much needed business. Luna knew both of her Mom's secretaries and politely nodded at them as she opened the door to the office to find Judy hollering down the phone.

"You listen to me Fitzpatrick, if you can't get your precinct in order, how the hell are you supposed to keep law and order?!...Fine, tell Bogo, I'm sure he shares my feelings on the shitty job you're doing!" Judy shouted before slamming the phone down.

"H-hey Mom." Luna opened, slightly shocked by her Mom's outburst, she was usually so calm and collected.

Judy looked up at her daughter and replied in an apologetic tone "Hi Sweetie, sorry you had to hear that, some of the other chief aren't taking their fair share of work and I'm trying to fix it."

"Sorry to hear that." Luna responded, not sure if she should be dropping such heavy news on the stressed police chief.

"What are you doing here? Oh sweet cheese and crackers, we're we supposed to meet up and I forgot?" Judy fretted.

"No, no…I just need to talk to you." Luna said, knowing now that there was no turning back.

"Oh Luna, can it wait? I've got a stack of papers to sign and meetings until my shift ends." Judy responded.

Luna was about to say 'Yeah, that's fine, we'll talk later' but her sadness betrayed her, a tear ran down her left cheek and her mouth whimpered "Mom, please…"

Judy's ear fell to droopy mode in a heartbeat, she ran to the door and said firmly to her secretaries "Clear my appointments for the next hour."

"But Ma'am what do I tell regional director Winter?" One of the secretaries, a male otter asked in a panic.

"Tell Skye it's a family matter with my eldest, she'll understand." Judy instructed before closing and locking the door, she dashed back to Luna who was no crying heavily, the doe hated seeing her daughter so distraught and instinctively grabbed both of Luna's paws and asked "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Mom, I screwed up." Luna blubbered, before falling to her knees, the weight of the situation had finally broken her.

Judy placed Luna's head on her chest and kept one paw on the vixen's cheek and the other on the back of her head, she gently rocked her child in a maternal manner before saying softly "Tell me what happened?"

Luna didn't answer straight away, she felt like a child again being comforted by the step mother she cherished, for the first time since she awoke on this hellish day she felt safe. But she knew she had to come clean, she took a deep breath and confessed "I cheated on Aleks."

(AN/ So what did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Judy learns about Luna's one night stand, Camelot make a surprising entrance and the most cheesiest z-lister type bad guy makes himself known. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	28. victories and defeats

(AN/ Hey folks it's garouge/crewefox here with another chapter of SOC. A huge thank you to the development team who helped craft this chapter and all the lovely folks who liked, commented, reblogged, faved, followed and reviewed the last chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 27- Victories and Defeats**

"Mom, I screwed up." Luna blubbered, before falling to her knees, the weight of the situation had finally broken her.

Judy placed Luna's head on her chest and kept one paw on the vixen's cheek and the other on the back of her head, she gently rocked her child in a maternal manner before saying softly "Tell me what happened?"

Luna didn't answer straight away, she felt like a child again being comforted by the step mother she cherished, for the first time since she awoke on this hellish day she felt safe. But she knew she had to come clean, she took a deep breath and confessed "I cheated on Aleks."

Judy's heart sank at this confession, she expected that something had gone wrong at work and part of her was hoping that Luna was pregnant but the confession of infidelity had caught her off guard. Judy hugged her eldest child a little tighter before saying "Tell me everything."

"It's hard to explain," Luna sniffled "it happened last night."

"Ok, ok." Judy said to calm Luna down and herself "Let's get a few things out of the way; were you drunk?"

"No." Luna answered, still weeping.

"Had you smoked some weed?" Judy questioned, knowing that the surgeon liked a joint from time to time (AN/ And before you jump down my throat about the green, this is set in California where recreational weed is LEGAL)

"I was completely sober, Mom." Luna stated, not wanting to let go of her mother.

"Ok…." Judy breathed "Have you and Aleks been having any troubles? Did you have a fight?"

"No!" Luna stressed "He's been the perfect boyfriend…and I've done this too him."

"You weren't coerced or forced, were you?" Judy asked with a little fear, if anyone had harmed Luna she would tear them limb from limb.

"No, this was all me." Luna answered, the guilt feeling icy daggers piercing her gut.

"Then, why?" Judy asked, sounding upset "Why would you do this?"

"I don't know, there's just a part of me that wanted it." Luna struggled to explain, breaking from hug and getting to her feet.

"Part of you wanted to cheat on Aleks?" Judy accused, she was torn between comforting her daughter and being mad with her.

Luna groaned loudly, trying to figure the best way to explain Andraste without revealing she was a vigilante "…Listen, please don't be mad at me for keeping this from you but I've been seeing a therapist for just over four years."

"Therapy?" Judy was flummoxed once again in the space of a few minutes "Why are on earth would you need therapy?"

"Anger issues, I used to have a big problem a few years back." Luna explained, drying her eyes.

Judy was trying to wrap her heard around all this new information but decided to keep the conversation on track "So what's this got to do with you cheating?"

"During my therapy I'd blame my rage on my old self, like it was a separate person. My therapist said that was unhealthy but I kept on doing it anyway…sometimes this other me comes out and that's what happened last night." Luna elaborated, looking at the lost stare in her mother's amethyst eyes.

"So this other you slept with someone who wasn't Aleks?" Judy wanted clarification.

"You don't believe me?" Luna asked, looking hurt.

"No, I believe you. It's just a bit…wow, y'know?" Judy asked rhetorically, she then opened her arms for another hug "Come here sweetie."

Luna didn't hesitate and went straight in for the hug "You must think I'm crazy." She voiced her fears.

"I would never think that, mental health is nothing to laugh at, I just wish I could've been there for you." Judy regretted, hugging her kit. But it was during this hug Judy noticed something, her nostrils were invaded by a very familiar scent, one she had smelt a lot growing up in BunnyBurrow "Wait a sec." Judy then started to sniff Luna.

"What?" Luna asked, as her mom circled her while still sniffing.

Judy stopped in front of Luna and gasped "You had sex with a doe rabbit!"

"What?! How did you know that!?" Luna asked with hushed panic.

"You've been marked by a doe, you reek of her." Judy replied, thinking how many more bombshells she could take today.

"Do I smell that bad?" Luna asked in a concerned voice.

"Never mind that! You're inter? You're Bi?" Judy quizzed, never knowing her daughter to be attracted to anyone who wasn't a male fox.

"No, I'm not…at least I don't think I am." Luna had to admit, she had never questioned her own sexuality before.

"Look sweetie, if you're in the closet it's ok to come out, you know no one in the family holds prejudices like that." Judy said, wanting to make the vixen feel safe.

"Mom, I'm not gay...it was just a one time thing." Luna tried to make an excuse, but even when she was her conscious self Luna couldn't deny her heart fluttered when she saw how beautiful Alice's scars were.

"So how did you meet this girl?" Judy asked, wanting to know more about the situation before she advised on the best course of action.

 _During a first blood duel in the Rainforest District_ "At work." Luna lied.

"Ok, so are you two friends?" Judy wondered.

"The opposite, we kinda' hate one another." Luna explained "You could say we're rivals. There had been this issue between us and last night I wanted to settle it, anyway we were arguing and then…"

"It happened?" Judy guessed, she then queried "Who else knows?"

"Just you. Aleks thinks I was hanging out with Olivia last night." Luna bluffed.

"Alright." Judy mused for a moment before asking "Do you think this girl will tell anyone about last night?"

"No, Alice is a lot of things but she's not the type to run her mouth." Luna replied, picturing Alice's forlorn expression in her mind "Anyway, she feels pretty guilty too."

"Then there is only one thing you can do; you're going to forget last night ever happened." Judy instructed.

"What?" Luna gasped, stunned that her Mom would give such advice.

"Look last night was a mistake, you know it and so does this 'Alice', there is no need to let one slip up ruin what you have with Aleks." Judy reasoned.

"But I can't lie to him! It's wrong, he's been the most supportive and loving fox in the world, it'd be cruel to keep this a secret." Luna rebuffed.

"It's crueller to shatter his world, I have never seen you in a happier relationship than when you're with Aleks and if you tell him it's going to go down in flames." Judy insisted.

"But he might forgive me." Luna hoped.

"Yeah he might…but he might leave you." Judy hated being blunt but she needed to be honest.

"But…but…" Luna tried to come up with a counterpoint but the prospect of Aleks dumping her terrified the vixen.

"Luna I know Victoria, your Dad and me always taught you to tell the truth but in this case I'd keep the truth buried, you and Aleks have such a bright future ahead of you, don't throw it away." Judy convinced, taking hold of Luna's paws. "It's your choice Luna, but I only want to see my little girl happy."

Luna pulled Judy into another hug, savouring the comfort because she knew as soon as she left this office she would face the most difficult choice of her life.

000

Hannah Savage had just completed an enjoyable day of classes, something that the teen had not experienced since transferring to the Zootopia School for the Blind and it was all thanks to Marian and Olivia's upgrade to the Steel Blood nanobots in Hannah's brain. The striped hybrid could finally read brail thanks to the upgrade and teachers were astonished how Hannah was suddenly to read the most complex paragraphs without pausing or any mistakes, the teen made an excuse of constantly practicing must've paid off.

Hannah stepped out of the single storey school holding her cane and wearing a beautiful orange cheongsam style short dress with a black floral design running down the left side, along with some black shorts and two loose red and black belts adorned with eastern Asian style decoration. Even though Hannah couldn't see the clothes she was wearing it gave her confidence when she was dressed fashionably, even though her mother, Skye, was a very busy mammal she always took the time to help Hannah pick out an outfit for the next day. Before she became blind Hannah always loved fashion just like her mother and that hadn't disappeared with her eyesight, whenever she went shopping with her Mom or Robyn she would get them to describe every little detail of the clothes. She was making her way to the minibus with two of her classmates. "So what are you doing for your birthday next week?" Alfie, a Tasmanian devil, asked.

"Nothing really." Hannah shrugged "I don't want a fuss."

"Oh come on, it's your sweet sixteen, you have to make a big deal." Mikaela, a beaver, replied.

"It's never been my style." Hannah commented.

"I betcha' your girlfriend is going to spoil you rotten." Alfie smiled, his cane knocking against Hannah's.

Hannah chuckled a little before revealing "She's really freaking out because she has no idea what to buy me."

"And you haven't given her a hint? You're just cruel." Mikaela jested.

"I like to keep her on her toes." Hannah joked.

It was then that the striped girl heard something odd, her hyper sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of multiple guns flicking their safety off and a panicked young voice begging _"Please, stop!"_

Hannah figured the voice was coming from the back of the school close to nearby sports field, she had to act fast before the mammal in need came to harm, in an instant she made the excuse to her friends "You know what? I forgot I was meeting Robyn after school, I'll see you guys on Monday."

"Uh, ok, see you next week." Alfie replied, hearing Hannah rush off very quickly.

As soon Hannah sensed that there was no one around to see here she started to sprint towards the sports field, she heard a loud thud as if a body had struck the ground but she had heard no shots fired. Hannah reached the corner of the school building and her mapping ability allowed her to picture what was going on, she could sense eight mammals of varying sizes, she could smell the gun oil coming off their rifles along with the stench of a chloroform soaked rag in one mammal's paw, there was a large figure on the floor who was unconscious but breathing steadily.

"Why did you knock him out?" An irritated male sand cat asked.

"Fuli told us to knock the kid out before moving him." A female caribou answered in a defensive manner

"He's a white rhino! How the hell are we supposed to get him in the truck? None of us are big enough to move him." The Sand Cat pointed out.

"Oh…right." The Caribou realised.

Hannah remembered that there was a mild mannered rhino boy named Mo, a year younger than her was in her class. _The Drowned are targeting a blind kid, why?_ Hannah wondered while the eight cultists tried to figure out how to move the rhino.

Hannah was thinking about calling for Team Ceartais when the sound wings flapping and three small engines whirling reached her ears. Out of nowhere a blur flew at the Drowned with three small weaponised drones in it's wake, "Surprise!" A gleeful voice chimed before the Caribou crashed to the ground having been struck by the blur. The blur was in fact a bat, a female Indian Flying Fox to be precise, dressed in black combat fatigues with the US flag stitched onto the left side of the chest, her paws had small metallic claw gauntlets dripping with a green fluid. The bat's youthful face was grinning with confidence and behind a pair of glasses were a set of mischievous magenta eyes, her large ears twitched causing three ruby coloured studs on her right ear to glisten in the sun.

"Shoot the Bat!" The Sand Cat ordered, immediately all The Drowned opened fire as the bat zipped around high above them to prevent any stray bullets hitting the hostage. The cultists were so preoccupied with trying to down the Bat that they never noticed the flash grenade land in the middle of them, it exploded a couple of seconds late and while the inexperienced fighters rushed to cover their eyes a white Tiger emerged from behind a truck and shot two cultists in the chest from his assault rifle before charging at the others. Ray Kamino hollered up at the Bat "Nightfall, resume attack."

"Yes sir!" The Bat replied with a shout as her three drones began opening fire on the scrambling Drowned.

Ray was steadying his rifle on a cultist who was taking cover behind a bench when one of the presumed dead cultist staggered to his feet and was about to shoot the RAF ace in the back but the cultist was struck in the face by a cane. Hannah had rushed into the action and saved Ray with the well timed strike, the white tiger barely had time to register what was going on as he witnessed a blind girl fighting like a pro with only her cane as a weapon. Hannah sensed a wombat aiming his pistol at her and before a single bullet could be fired Hannah whipped her cane into the marsupial's crotch causing him to wail in pain, the hybrid took advantage of the wombat's pain and stole his handgun while putting him in a choke hold to use him as a shield as she fired three clean shots, each of them hitting three cultists' right knee caps. All the other cultists were now either dead, shot or knocked out apart from the Sand Cat leader. Ray found the cowardly cat trying to flee, the larger feline bolted towards the cultist and his powerful paw picked the Sand Cat up and slammed him into a wall. "Get the hell off me!" The Sand Cat snarled.

"As soon as you tell me why you were kidnapping this Rhino." Ray responded in cool and collected manner.

"It's the Wave's will." The Sand Cat gave the default Drowned answer.

Ray gave a grunt of displeasure before sending his fist into the Sand Cat's face, knocking him out. He looked at the Bat who was guarding the three awake but wounded Drowned cultists and ordered "Nightfall contact The Roundtable, tell them to send an osprey, looks like we're going to have some guests."

"On it." The Bat replied before doing as she was told.

Ray then focused his attention on Hannah who was crouched beside the unconscious rhino Mo and checking that he wasn't hit by any bullets. Ray marched over to the girl and demanded "Ok kid, who the hell are you?"

Hannah rose to her feet and chuckled "I'm kind of offended that you don't remember me Ray, especially after I personally kicked your butt the other day."

It took the tiger a few seconds to realise what the teen was on about but soon enough his blue eyes went wide with astonishment "Bullet?" He whispered, so the still conscious cultists couldn't hear.

"I'm guessing you're as surprised to see me as I am to see you." Hannah replied, emptying the handgun she was holding before tossing it to the ground.

"A little," Ray admitted "are you blind or is it just an act?"

"I'm blind, I assure you." Hannah answered, picking up her cane that she had dropped during the fight.

"But you can…" Ray started to ask.

"I'm a super hero, remember?" Hannah whispered playfully. "Anyway what the hell are you doing at my school."

Normally Ray would never divulge military intel to a civilian but he had struck a deal with Team Ceartais and his honour wouldn't allow him to back out of a deal "We intercepted a Drowned communication about a potential kidnapping about an hour ago, me and the corporal over there mobilised as fast as we could."

"Thank god you did, I don't think Ceartais would've made it here in time." Hannah said with appreciation. "Is the corporal a member of Camelot?"

"Yeah, she's young and a little brash but she's good at what she does." Ray commented, sounding a little proud "Nightfall put your drones on guard mode and come introduce yourself."

The Bat flapped over and landed on Ray's shoulder and grinned down at the blind teen "Thanks for the help back there."

"Bullet allow me to introduce Corporal Zoe Nightfall of the US Army Rangers and Camelot's top scout." Ray introduced in a formal manner.

"Whoa, you're Bullet?!" Zoe beamed in a hushed voice "No wonder you kicked ass back there."

Hannah instantly liked the bubbly personality of this Bat and replied "It's nice to meet you Zoe."

"Wait a sec," Zoe smirked at Ray "you got your ass handed to you by a blind girl?"

"Nightfall." Ray warned with a low growl.

"D'aww the big kitty got a boo-boo from a teenager." Zoe teased.

"Unless you want to be cleaning the latrines back at base I suggest you shut your mouth." Ray threatened.

"Alright, alright." Zoe smiled, satisfied she had got under the tiger's skin.

The approaching sound of sirens caused Hannah's ears to prick up, there were two sets; police sirens and one from an ambulance. "Look I've got to go before the cops see me." Hannah said, her tone suddenly serious.

"Go, the paramedics will take care of the kid and cops already know Camelot is here." Ray assured.

Hannah nodded up at Ray before fleeing the scene leaving a hopeful Ray, knowing that the kind-hearted teen would stop at nothing to help him find his beloved Kiara.

000

"So why would The Drowned want to target a blind kid?" Mage wondered out loud.

"Beats me, since when has anything The Drowned done made sense." Scarlet replied, dressed in her new upgraded outfit with her telescopic baton dangling from her belt.

The two heroes were waiting for their order inside a 24 hour BuggaBurger in The Rainforest District, it was 1am and the two friends were hungry for junk food, both the staff and other patrons had their phones out and were taking photos and videos of the teen heroes while they chatted casually. It had been a rather quiet evening, the two had been scouring the streets for any word or sign of Kiara but they had no joy, they had stopped a couple of car thieves and a mugging so it wasn't all bad.

"Anyway, how's training with the Hood and the Maid going?" Mage changed the subject.

"It's tough, just the way I like it." Scarlet grinned "For a couple of old farts they don't pull any punches."

"I'm glad you're feeling better after what happened with Ronin I was really worried about you." Mage admitted, putting a paw on his best friend's shoulder.

"Thanks, but Bullet and Andraste were the ones who got me out of my little pity party." Scarlet confessed.

"And do you still want to rip Ronin a new one?" Mage asked cheekily.

"Actually not as much as I wanted to, for some reason I just don't feel as angry at her as I used to." Scarlet tried to convey what she was feeling.

Mage gave a mocking gasp and declared "Who are you and what have you done with Scarlet?"

"Funny." Scarlet said dryly.

The cashier behind the counter held up a bag and said loudly "Two Bugga supremes with cheese meals."

"That's us." Mage replied, going over and collecting the order.

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" A voice suddenly boomed from the entrance, shocking everyone in the restaurant. Scarlet and Mage turned around sharply, expecting to see a Razor thug or even a Drowned cultist but instead they found something…different.

There stood at the entrance was a Sumatran Tiger dressed in a ridiculous outfit, he was wearing a silver jump suit with a flame design running across the sleeves and the legs, he had a pair of bright orange briefs on over his jumpsuit and an orange cape which looked like it was an old curtain, her wore a homemade domino mask made out of cardboard and tinfoil and across his chest written in orange permanent marker was the letters 'T.N.T' "The Undying Scarlet and The Mage, we finally meet." The costumed tiger announced in a hammy manner.

Scarlet was trying her best not to burst out laughing while Mage sniggered "And you are?"

"I am the terror that burns through the streets of Zootopia, I am the most wicked of villains, I am; TNTIGER !" The would-be villain declared theatrically.

"TNTiger?" Scarlet snorted before throwing her head back and laughing with Mage and the other mammals in the restaurant joining in.

"Silence! I will not be mocked!" TNTiger responded with loud bitterness.

"So is this a prank video or what?" Scarlet laughed a question "Are we on camera now?"

"You think me to be some lowly prankster? How dare you associate my genius with those youtube losers." TNTiger replied defiantly.

"Oh no Scarlet, the big bad tiger is here to battle us." Mage pantomimed, pretending to be scared.

"Golly! What ever shall we do?" Scarlet played along before fake fainting into Mage' waiting arms.

TNTiger couldn't see that he was being made fun of and reacted with "Yes tremble with terror against your greatest foe."

Both heroes then erupted with more laughing, much to the pleasure of the normal mammals who were videoing the entire thing. "Ok dude, let's leave these nice mammals to eat their meals in peace." Mage proposed.

"Ha! You expect me to show mercy because the common rabble are in attendance, they shall be witnesses to your demise!" TNTiger yelled, before throwing a string of lit firecrackers he had concealed with his behind his back right at Mage and Scarlet. The low power fireworks exploded causing a few mammals to flinch but not Mage and Scarlet.

The porcupine BuggaBurger cashier was clearly unimpressed by this prank and shouted "That's it buddy, get out of here!"

"You dare spe-" TNTiger began, but he never finished his sentence, his cheek had been hit by one of the Mage's sleeper cards, as soon as the ridiculous cat fell to the floor the fast food joint came to life with cheers and applause.

Ten minutes later Mage and Scarlet were around the bag of the BuggaBurger and were finishing off their meal while looking at the idiotic and unconscious feline they had dragged out of restaurant. "So what are we going to do with this dipshit?" Scarlet queried, munching on some fries.

"It seems like a waste of police time if we dialled 911." Mage figured before slurping on his cherry coke.

"Yeah, my Mom always hates these stupid little cases." Scarlet commented, looking for a trash can to throw the food containers in but then she spotted an industrial dumpster and lightbulb flicked on in her head "Oh I know just what to do." She smirked before strolling over to TNTiger and using her superior strength to lift up the big cat and threw him into the reeking dumpster. "Garbage belongs with other garbage." She quipped.

Mage gave a hearty laugh before tossing his drink cup into the dumpster "Alright, we're refuelled, let's catch some bad guys." He psyched himself up, getting out the keys to Bella and spinning them on his index finger.

"Yeah hopefully there not as terrifying as the terrible TNTiger!" Scarlet fake cried before cracking up with laughter once more, it felt good to be her old self again.

000

In the part of Tundra Town that was ruined by the Wave there was a plumbing supply store that had escaped any major damage when the natural disaster hit, Beaverton Plumbing saw a lot business despite it's location but not from plumbers. No, the establishment's most frequent customers were a different kind of tradesmen, for you see this modest supply store was a front for a speakeasy known as 'The Burst Pipe', this bar was strictly members only and offered more than alcohol and good conversation with fellow tradesmen, you could buy almost anything illegal at this bar; Guns, ammo, explosives, fake passports, organs, you name it this place had it but it was only open to assassins and mercenaries.

The entrance was hidden behind a fake wall around the back of the store, where it descended down into a modest sized underground bar with low lighting that suited the mood of the safe space. Everyone knew this was neutral ground and anyone conducting 'Business' here would be dealt with in the most fatal of ways.

The Burst Pipe was quiet tonight, a pack of mercs were quietly playing poker in the corner, two rodent hitmen; a male dormouse and male rat/mouse hybrid were flirting in the other corner and at the end of the bar next to the jukebox was Ronin. The lapin had been listening to sad loves songs since she arrived an hour ago, she had only one hit tonight which she had completed with ease, one stab to a crooked judge's heart and she had earned $10k. Ronin was on her third double whiskey while replaying the worst morning of her life in her mind, the soundtrack to her misery was the Motown classic 'What becomes of the Broken Hearted'. The white rabbit had almost finished her drink when a friendly voice asked "Same again?"

Ronin looked up at the barmaid, she was a white wooled ewe in her mid twenties and every aspect of her dripped with sex appeal. Her face wasn't pretty, it was seductive. Her figure was curvaceous and could entice any mammal who was into females. And her outfit barely covered anything, she was wearing a virgin killer sweater that only made her more appetizing…but Ronin was not hungry. " _Oui."_ Ronin answered, downing the remainder of her beverage and sliding the glass back to the sheep.

The barmaid known simply as 'Bo Beep' took the glass and refilled it with Irish Whiskey "I thought French folk were into brandy and champagne." She politely conversed.

"I guess I'm an exception, Irish whiskey is smooth but it packs enough punch." Ronin responded, quite tipsy.

"Something bothering you Ronin? You're usually a happy drunk." Bo asked with genuine concern.

"…I got my heart stamped on this morning." Ronin confided.

"I'm sorry to hear that sugar." Bo sympathised, passing the drink to the bunny. "Were they cute?"

"She was beautiful, we spent the most amazing night together and this morning….ugh, I'm pathetic." Ronin self criticised before taking a sip of whiskey.

"Well if you want to forget your troubles, maybe I can help." Bo flirted, placing her hoof atop of Ronin's paw.

The assassin contemplated the offer for a moment, she had slept with Bo before and it had been quite enjoyable but right now she didn't even want to think of being intimate with anyone "I appreciate it Bo, but not tonight." Ronin replied, her sadness weighing her usual melodic voice down.

"Oh sugar, this girl really did a number on ya', I haven't seen you this beat up since you ended things with that ocelot guy a couple of years back." Bo observed.

"That guy was a bastard," A voice commented, both females turned to see Kit Cloudkicker approaching the bar "that's why I gladly killed him in Sydney."

"Cloudkicker? Surprised you're not at the Brothel down the street." Ronin barbed, she wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.

"I just finished up there actually." Cloudkicker bragged "Anyway I'm glad you're here Ronin, my boss has need of your services for a few troublesome matters."

"Oh?" Ronin sounded, taking another swig of whiskey while Bo uncapped a bottle of beer and slid it over to the waiting paw of Cloudkicker.

"There's a charity auction coming up and my boss wants a discreet bodyguard, after seeing you at that ball in Monaco last year I thought you'd be the perfect mammal for the job." Cloudkicker explained. "It's next Friday, at the opera house in The Meadowlands, $30k for four hours work, how does that sound?"

"Deal." Alice accepted, knowing she would have to buy a new ball gown "What are the other jobs?"

"Six contracts that only a mammal of your skills can handle, two assassinations and four captures. And the price tag is big too; $10 million for all six jobs." Cloudkicker offered.

"Who are the targets?" Ronin asked, wanting to know if her targets aligned with her code.

"Team Ceartais," Cloudkicker answered nonchalantly "Kill Andraste and Bullet, we need all the others alive."

All of Ronin's fur stood on end, feeling suddenly focused despite the alcohol in her bloodstream. She knew the next few words might make her appear like a coward, that she would lose some respect in the underworld but she answered "I respectively refuse."

"What?" Cloudkicker asked, thinking the hardened killer was joking.

"I will not be taking the job." Ronin affirmed.

"Ronin we're talking $10 million here, you know you want it." Cloudkicker tried to lure, hardly believing he had to convince one of the best assassins in the world.

"I'm not interested." Ronin stated, taking another sip of whiskey and looking away from Cloudkicker.

"…I can't believe it, the mighty Ronin has gone soft?" Cloudkicker spat, clearly frustrated.

Ronin replied by unsheathing her katana in a flash and placing it half an inch away from Cloudkicker's jugular "Soft?" she snarled.

The cocking of a shotgun brought the two out of their confrontation, they turned to see Bo with a shotgun pointed at both of them "Need I remind you the rules about 'Business' in my establishment?" she asked with charm.

Ronin retreated her blade and slid it back into it's scabbard before saying "My most sincere apologies Bo." Before reaching into a pouch on her sneaking suit and putting five $100 dollar bills on the bar "My tip reflects my apology." The rabbit then hopped off the bar stool and made her way to the exit wondering how to warn Luna and the rest of Ceartais that they were in mortal danger.

000

Aleks had been through a rough day, he had started his shift at precinct 1 not even knowing that his girlfriend Luna was safe, but when he got the much anticipated call from his beloved a weight off his shoulders had been lifted. However during the drug raid today there had been a long standoff in Sahara square leaving him baking in the heat before he got the go ahead to take down the perps. He had returned home way past the time his shift finished to find Luna sleeping in bed hugging her treasured plushie dragon 'Mr Scales'.

He got changed into the t shirt and shorts he usually slept in and snuggled up to his girlfriend and soon enough drifted into slumber. But at 3am a sound awoke him, it was sweet and yet loud, he focused his ears and heard a violin. He realised Luna was no longer in bed with him, she must be the one creating such a beautiful melody. He wandered into the living room of the borrowed apartment to find Luna playing her violin to the crescent moon shining bright through the window. Aleks approached the vixen and asked in a sleepy voice "Luna, why are you playing your violin at this time of night?"

Luna who had her back turned to the silver fox slowly rotated to reveal a mourning face with tearful amber eyes and whimpered "Aleks, I need to tell you something."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! No spoilers for next week I'm afraid please review and c ya soon!)


	29. What becomes of the broken hearted

**(A** N/Hey folks it's garouge/ crewefox here with another chapter. Sorry for the late upload, my laptop has been on fritz, anyway thank you to everyone who liked, reviewed, reblogged, faved and followed the last chapter and a big thanks to alexboehm for writing the Kion/Jasiri part of this chapter. so without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 28- What becomes of the Broken Hearted?**

Judy Wilde had always been a light sleeper, she attributed it to growing up with hundreds of siblings and having to get up early to do chores on the family farm. So as soon the sound of someone rustling in the kitchen reached her ears she was instantly awake, her amethyst eyes were open and her ears shot up, she focused hearing and could hear someone moving in the kitchen down the hall. She climbed out of bed and got her tranq pistol out of the bedside draw while whispering "Nick." But her husband was still sound asleep, she quietly tread to his side of the bed and shook his shoulder before quietly commanding "Nick, wake up!"

Nick stirred and mumbled "Judy?"

"There's someone in the kitchen." Judy told, even though her tone was hushed her seriousness could be heard in her voice.

"What?" Nick yawned, sitting up in bed. But before another word could be heard a loud clack could be heard coming from the kitchen causing the couple to jump slightly, Nick grabbed the baseball bat that he kept beside his side of the bed and nodded at Judy. The bunny returned the nod before heading to the door with her pistol in hand, she carefully opened the door as not to make too much noise before taking point and heading down the hallway with Nick in tow. Both of them could make out the figure in the darkness of the open plan kitchen/living room. Judy levelled her gun at the figure and said in a dominant tone "Put your hands on your head and get on your knees!"

"G-Guys it's me." A timid voice replied.

"Luna?" Nick reacted, the puzzled fox flicking on the light switch to see his eldest child but not how he would expect. Luna's amber eyes were red and puffy from crying, at her feet were a suitcase and her violin case and in one of her paws was her plushie dragon 'Mr Scales' "Kiddo? What happened?" Nick asked, his heart breaking at the scene.

Judy had already figured out what was going on, she flicked the safety back on her tranq pistol and set it down before rushing over to her "Oh sweetie." She sympathised.

Luna latched onto her Mom and hugged her tightly "You were right, Mom." She sniffled.

Nick saw the suitcase and came to the conclusion "You've broken up with Rojek?"

Luna just gave a nod as her answer as she was led to the sofa by Judy.

"That bastard!" Nick growled, gripping the bat tighter.

"Nick." Judy tried to warn.

"I told him what would happen if he broke your heart." The fox rambled, seriously thinking about get changed out of his nightwear and finding Aleks to have a 'Chat' with him.

"Dad." Luna spoke, wanting her father to calm down.

"I trusted that little shit and he does this!" Nick barked.

"Sweet cheese and crackers Nick, cool it." Judy snapped, causing Nick to flinch.

The green eyed fox then looked over at Judy and Luna on the sofa, the vixen looked distraught while Judy was holding onto Luna's paw. Nick then realised that Judy didn't seem all that surprised by Luna's appearance in the middle of the night or that she had broken up with her boyfriend, in a confused manner he asked "Am I missing something?"

"I may as well tell you." Luna sighed.

"Sweetie, you don't have to." Judy assured.

"Everyone's going to find out that I'm a shitty mammal sooner or later, no point in stalling." Luna pitied herself.

"Luna?" Nick uttered, utterly clueless to the situation.

"I cheated on Aleks." Luna revealed, the words burning her throat.

"You cheated on Aleks!?" A new voice gasped, the rest of the room directed their view to Robyn standing in the hallway in her PJs (Only arriving back home through her bedroom window a few minutes ago from her patrol). The Hybrid raced over to her big sister, sat on the sofa and put an arm around her.

"You cheated on him?" Nick asked, hardly believing what he was hearing.

Luna looked at her Dad with teary eyes before saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh? Victoria cheated on you and now I've cheated on the fox I love."

Nick stepped over and knelt in front of his firstborn and tried to reassure "We're only mammals, we all make mistakes."

"Yeah, give it a few days and maybe Aleks will be ready to talk." Robyn attempted to cheer up her broken hearted big sister.

"You didn't see his face; Aleks wasn't angry, he was crushed." Luna cried "He packed his bags and went to a hotel…I couldn't stand being alone in that apartment, so I came to the one place I'd feel safe."

"You can stay as long as you like, kiddo." Nick promised, putting his paw to Luna's cheek and wiping away a stray tear with his thumb.

"Thank you." Luna croaked, feeling that she had cried way too much in the last 24 hours.

"Why'd you do it Lu?" Robyn had to ask.

"Robyn." Judy said firmly, urging the teen to retract the question.

"Because a part of me wanted to. I wasn't drunk, high, or forced, this was all on me, the other side of me." Luna answered, picturing Alek's wounded expression in her mind.

Robyn was about to ask with whom Luna had cheated with but she thought better of it, she just hugged her sister a litter tighter and willed "It's going to be ok."

"How I about make us some blueberry tea?" Nick asked rhetorically, the lessons from his British parents kicking in; no matter the crisis, tea always helps.

Luna read her father's action; he didn't know how to react so he went to the default comfort solution, and she loved him for it "Sounds good." The vixen smiled sadly.

As Nick went over to the kitchen area to fill the kettle, Luna looked over to Judy and quietly regretted "I should've listened to you, I should've kept my trap shut."

Judy shook her head and replied "You did what you thought was right sweetie, I advised you to do something cowardly, you came clean about your mistake and I can't hold that against you."

Luna's tears continued to fall freely and her family were there to comfort her, one tear at a time.

000

It was a lazy Saturday morning for Kion and Jasiri, with the pair laying on the couch in their apartment, a blanket draped over them and their arms wrapped around each other. The two were having a pyjama day, the pair were determined to be lazy and lovey all day while watching as many movies as possible.

The pair was making out at the moment, their lips locked in a passionate embrace, eyes closed as the intense sensation of their lovers' touch ran through them. After the kiss ended, Jasiri nuzzled her face into Kion's bright red mane, relishing the smell of the orange scented shampoo he used and how soft his fur was. The lion noticed her doing this and kidded "You know I was actually thinking about getting my mane cut into a Mohawk."

"Do it and you die." Jasiri replied jokingly.

"Manes must be your thing" Kion commented.

Jasiri chuckled before turning towards the TV, with a movie about a vigilante bat was playing on screen "How did you say you decided to watch this again?" The hyena asked.

"Oh, some friends couldn't believe I hadn't seen this and they demanded I watch it" Kion answered

"Heh, is this what your job's like? Running around at night, saving people?" Jasiri queried

"Well with me you can lose the cape and mask. But on some nights there's a lot of action, other nights there's very little. However most nights I'm just here with you" Kion replied, cuddling his girlfriend a little tighter.

"Those are my favourite nights." Jasiri flirted, nuzzling into Kion's neck while the lion pet the back of her head. Kion planted a kiss on Jasiri's forehead, making the hyena smile. The lion began to scratch Jasiri behind her ears and she let out a hyena chuckle. Jasiri treasured his gentle and loving touch, but there was something more serious on her mind…something that could ruin the romantic mood.

"You know Kion, I've been thinking…" She opened

"About what?" the feline responded

"Well now that the dust has settled, maybe you should open up a line of communication with your parents, maybe try and repair your relationship." Jasiri suggested.

Kion let out a sigh, making Jasiri feel a tad guilty that she brought up such painful memories.

"I probably should, but I still feel angry about what happened, I mean your mother never hit you, did they?" Kion deflected.

"No but I bet she's feels terrible about what happened, I'm sure she regrets it and she wants her son back. I mean don't you miss your parents?" Jasiri pressed.

"I suppose…" Kion conceded.

Jasiri sat up and looked Kion in the eyes and said softly "Kion, they are your parents, they gave you life and were perfect until all this mess happened. I know what your Mom did was wrong, but you should be grateful to have her, I know I'd be grateful if I had my mother back…"

A frown came across Kion's face upon hearing that sentence, he had been holding onto his anger out of pure stubbornness, he hadn't considered what his parents must be feeling and that made him feel awful. He wrapped Jasiri in a tight hug, she returned the sign of affection and once again buried her face in Kion's mane. "I guess you're right, it's time to start over with them." He admitted.

"And I'll be with you every step of the way." Jasiri promised.

000

Luna finally fell asleep around 4am, she had curled up in her old bed inside her childhood bedroom that still had flowers painted on the walls. The young surgeon wasn't due back in work until Monday and it was a good thing too, she was way too miserable to face the outside world at the moment.

It was now 10am and Luna was still sound asleep with her parents and Robyn in the door way of her bedroom worrying about the crestfallen vixen "Poor kid." Nick said quietly, feeling sympathy for his little girl.

"I haven't seen her this bad since Little John passed away." Judy commented.

Robyn's fur stood on end at this comment, knowing the real cause of the bear's demise so she changed the topic quickly in case Luna overheard her Mom's words "Say…didn't you two have plans for today?"

"Well, yeah but we can't leave Luna alone." Nick replied, motioning to the slumbering vixen.

"Dad she's asleep, she'll probably sleep all day, she won't be hurt if you two go out for a few hours." Robyn encouraged.

"I don't know." Judy said, sounding uncertain.

"Look, if she wakes up, I'm here." Robyn persuaded "I can take care of her until you get back."

"Well this is our first weekend off in a while." Nick mused "When we come back we can get some fried chicken, that always cheers Luna up."

"Plus maybe she needs some time with me, maybe she'll open up about what happened." Robyn pointed out.

Judy looked once more at her eldest daughter and felt protective but she knew Robyn was right, she kissed Robyn on the cheek and urged "Look after her."

"She's in safe hands." Robyn assured.

Forty Five minutes later Nick and Judy were walking through the wrecked streets of Sherwood which were slowly being repaired by clean up crews and construction workers. The married couple weren't planning on spending the whole day in this ruined neighbourhood, they were going to get brunch at a swanky bistro downtown before catching a movie at a nearby cinema but before all that they needed to do something very important.

The two walked into the cemetery hand in hand, they noticed that were quite a few mammals visiting their departed loved ones. They walked to a gravestone they knew all too well, both of them holding tightly onto one another's paw for comfort and strength. Nick and Judy stood in front of the shared grave of their three sons; Ryan, Ronan and Reginald, whom they lost nearly sixteen years ago but the grief still felt fresh. "Hi boys." Judy greeted, crouching down and kissing the marble stone before laying the small bouquet of flowers in front of the grave.

"Hope you three didn't miss us too much." Nick tried to appear like his usual jokey self but the sole tear streaking down his cheek showed his true feeling.

"Nick." Judy said softly, reaching up to her husband's face and wiping away the tear.

The fox didn't realise he was crying, when he saw the moisture on Judy's hand he lamented "I thought I'd last longer this time before the waterworks started."

"It's ok to cry." Judy eased, getting up on her tip toes and gifting him a kiss.

"How'd you do it Carrots? I've only seen you cry here a handful of times." Nick asked, admiring Judy's strength.

"It's horrible thing to say but Bunnies are used to death, I've lost my share of siblings and cousins over the years. Heck every time my family visited the graveyard back in Bunnyburrow it'd take hours to visit everyone." Judy explained before looking back at the grave, her own amethyst eyes now releasing tears "But this one hurts the most."

"I know you think about them every day just like me." Nick smiled sadly, remembering holding each of his stillborn sons and wishing beyond anything that they would cry.

"You know for a while I wanted us to try again for another litter," Judy confessed "but I couldn't believe how busy we were with just Luna and Robyn. I don't know how my folks handled 275 of us."

At the mention of Luna, Nick's mind obviously went to her break up with Aleks and how Judy seemed to know about it beforehand "So did you know about Luna cheating?" he asked.

Judy nodded before saying "She came to me yesterday at the precinct and told me, the poor thing, she was so upset."

"Did she tell you who it was with?" Nick asked, this question had been eating at him.

Judy pulled an awkward expression before answering "She didn't tell who the mammal was but…look it's difficult to say, I'm not sure if Luna's wants anyone to know the details."

"Ok, I understand." Nick accepted "…It's a shame, I was actually warming up to Rojek."

"Me too," Judy concurred "I actually pictured them giving us grandkids in a couple of years."

"She'll find someone else eventually." Nick said, also wanting grandchildren "And if Robyn and Hannah stay together they'll probably adopt."

Judy placed her paw on the gravestone and said "I bet these three would've been handsome heartbreakers."

"Just like their old man." Nick couldn't help but say with a smug look on his face.

Judy chuckled a little before letting out a sigh "Listen I know you don't want talk about this, but I feel I need to."

"Talk about what?" Nick asked, arching an eyebrow.

"The whole deputising Ceartais thing." Judy answerd, seeming anxious.

"Fluff." Nick groaned.

"Look The Drowned tried to kidnap a kid from his school yesterday, if special forces hadn't intercepted the communication yesterday God knows what would've happened. Even with all the help from other agencies the ZPD is stretched thin…we need Ceartais' help." Judy tried to convince.

"Carrots we can't control vigilantes, sure they seem to be non lethal right now but what about when they snap, they could kill someone." Nick countered.

"Then we bring them in, discuss an alliance, draw up terms." Judy suggested.

"You think vigilantes will agree to that?" Nick asked, sounding sceptical.

"If I remember correctly your parents made the first step to alliance with Jack and Skye all those years back." Judy reminded "Look they must be good mammals, otherwise they wouldn't put their necks on line night after night."

"Judy, if we rely on vigilantes to solve our problems it'd make the ZPD appear weak." Nick parried.

Judy was quiet for a moment before remembering "The night the Wave happened you rallied those cops and looters to help the city, well that's what these heroes are doing. Luna would've probably been killed by The Drowned if it wasn't for Spitfire and I could've been killed at The Rose Thorn if Ceartais hadn't showed up, I think we can trust them."

"It…." Nick tried to come up with a counterpoint but he had none.

Judy took hold of Nick's paws in her own and said "Mammals are dying every day because of The Drowned and Rattigan, there are parents in this city who are mourning their children because some psychos think this place is a battlefield, we lost our three boys, we know that pain. If we team up with Ceartais and save just one life, wouldn't it be worth it?"

"That's not fair." Nick spoke, the words hitting him hard.

"The world isn't fair Nick, look when I came to Zootopia I wanted to make the world a better place, before the Wave it was but we need to make it better again, we need to take a stand against the evil in this city. I think Ceartais can help us." Judy implored.

Nick couldn't deny Judy made a good argument yet his doubts shadowed his mind, he took a breath before saying honestly "I'll think about it."

"Good," Judy smiled "now how about you treat me to brunch Mr. Mayor?"

000

In one of the oldest parts of Savannah Central there was a city block made up mostly of buildings from the 1800s that were in surprisingly good condition for being so old, these homes were some of the most expensive and sought after properties in the entire city but there was one rodent home built into one of these giant buildings that had been the Dawson family home for nearly twenty years, 221b Baker Street.

And inside this rather spacious home was a hidden study concealed behind a bookcase, in the study the walls were covered with newspaper clippings, photographs and post it notes all relating to the villainous Professor Padraic Rattigan. Basil had been in here most of the morning just staring at the wall and trying to figure out his next step in bringing down the mob boss, he had thought for sure that Judy would've arrested him at The Rose Thorn but the wicked drug lord was one step ahead as always. He had come to the conclusion that Spitfire or an Ceartais associate must've been the one who blocked his hacking of the Rose Thorn's security system which meant they were also trying to bring Rattigan to justice as well as fight The Drowned. The subject of Team Ceartias had also been bothering him, most of the members were a mystery to him but with one of them he was 99.9% sure of their identity. This was the most recent member or should he say returning member, Andraste, only a few images of the archer existed, one of them being a professional photo taken by the mysterious photographer Miss Ojos and this new photo had confirmed what he had thought for over six years; that Luna Wilde was indeed Andraste.

Luna had been a gifted archer growing up like her father and grandfather but had never professionally competed, it was more of a hobby. She came from a family with two retired vigilantes who most likely influenced her choice. But four years ago Andraste mysteriously disappeared and only returned after Luna's penthouse was attacked by The Drowned where all the evidence showed that it was not Spitfire who helped Officer Rojek defeat the attackers but an archer…who was not afraid to kill. This worried Basil the most; was Luna capable of killing another mammal? He had known the vixen since she was a child and yet all the signs pointed to the fact that Luna was a killer vigilante. Part of him thought that some criminals deserve to die and that she killed that Drowned member in self defence but the other part of his brain questioned whether or not she had killed before or if she could take someone's life again? But he would never tell anyone about this discovery, for one it would tear the Wilde family apart and two; Andraste had done a lot for the city in the past and the present and if he exposed her the city would be without one of it's guardian angels.

The vibrating buzz of his smartphone pulled Basil from his thoughts, he picked it up off the desk and opened the text message 'Darling please come out of your study, Olivia and Blake will be here soon xxx' the message was of course from Basil's husband David, who had busy in the kitchen all morning preparing a lunch of Indian food. The mouse got up from his chair and pressed the button to open the door back to the library, the door swung open and he stepped out into the traditional looking library before pushing the bookcase back into position, he then walked through the house filled with antiques furniture and made his way to the most modern room in the house; the kitchen.

David was a stove tending to various dishes he was preparing, despite being English through and through the portly mouse adored Asian cuisine and was quite gifted in making curries, in fact David did all the cooking seeing as Basil who was gifted with intelligence was not so gifted in cooking. David was humming along to an eighties tune playing on the radio. Basil snuck behind his beloved and snaked his arms around David's waist and rested his chin on his husband's shoulder. "Hello there." David smiled, his eyes still focused on the vegetable jalfrezi he was stirring.

"Sorry to leave you with all the work again." Basil apologised before softly kissing David's neck, which made the mortician feel weak at the knees.

"It's fine, you're a disaster in the kitchen anyway." David bantered.

Basil pressed his body a little more onto David's before playfully saying "Good thing that I'm great in the bedroom." Before nuzzling into David's neck.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" David chuckled, loving the feeling of Basil's lightly kissing his neck.

"Is it working? Because we still have about half an hour until Olivia and Blake arrive." Basil propositioned.

"Nice try." David shot down "I've been planning this lunch for weeks and I'm not going to burn the food because you want a quickie."

"Spoilsport." Basil pouted before asking "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can set the table in the dining room and choose a nice wine from the cellar, oh I've got some Indian beers in the fridge that go well with curry so pop them in an ice bucket would you darling?" David requested.

"Yes sir." Basil gave a mock salute and went to walk away when he heard…

"Oh and Basil." David spoke up.

Basil turned and before he could say 'Yes?' David grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him into a snog that lasted a good ten seconds, David then pulled back and smiled "If you're a good boy and don't embarrass Olivia too much you'll get more than a quickie after they leave."

Basil grinned in response before setting off to the cellar.

About half an hour later the doorbell rang and both Basil and David scurried to the door eager to meet the Rat who had stolen their little girl's heart. Basil opened the door to find their smiling daughter garbed in one of her favourite tartan dresses and a very nervous looking Blake who looked dashing in a black designer shirt with grey jeans "Daddies!" Olivia beamed, practically jumping at her dads and wrapping them in a hug.

The couple were used to their child's overly affectionate greetings and were actually ready for the pounce, they caught her with ease hugged her back "And hello to you to." Basil chuckled.

"You never change, my little thistle." David said with warmth, using his nickname for the rambunctious engineer.

Basil pulled back from the hug and immediately outstretched his hand to Blake "And you must be Blake." He greeted in a friendly manner.

"Y-yes sir, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Dawson." Blake replied in a jittery tone, shaking Basil's paw.

"Tsk, tsk," David tutted "we'll have no sirs, no misters and no Dr Dawsons today. You'll call us Basil and David."

Blake seemed to mellow at David's insistence of informality before replying "Ok, David." Before remembering "Oh Olivia told me you were fans of Brandy, so I got you this." The rat then passed David a high end bottle of Brandy.

"Oh you shouldn't have." David thanked, grateful for the gift.

"Ah good lad, bringing alcohol to win over the parents, I pulled the same trick with David's folks." Basil gave a hearty laugh, slapping Blake on the back.

"Olivia, why don't you help me bring the food through." David suggested before turning to Basil and adding "Darling, why don't you take Blake into the dining room and pour everyone some drinks?"

"Of course," Basil smiled, leading the nervy rat to the dining room "come along Blake."

"If you don't mind me saying Basil, this place is really fancy." Blake commented looking at his surroundings.

"I don't mind at all," Basil responded "David and I have never been fans of modern furniture or interior design, Olivia says we should've lived in the Victorian era."

Basil led Blake through to the spacious dining room where a cosy table enough to sit the four of them was in the centre of the room, the host waltzed over to the bar and asked "Wine or beer?"

"We're having Indian food, right? I'll go with a Cobra." Blake answered.

"Oh David's going to love you, a fellow beer connoisseur." Basil said, uncapping the bottle and filling a glass, once it was full he passed the glass to Blake and took note of the perplexed look on the broad shouldered rat's face "You look puzzled by something Blake."

"Am I that obvious?" Blake laughed nervously "It's just well, I expected you and your husband to be Scottish like Olivia."

"Ah, yes." Basil reacted, pouring another beer for David to have with his meal "Well you obviously know that we adopted Olivia but we were in fact very close to her birth parents, when they died we took Olivia in. We encouraged her to keep her Scottish accent all these years because we wanted her to keep her heritage alive, plus sometimes she sounds so much like her mother it's spooky."

"So even when you came Stateside you didn't let her accent die, I get that. My mom and my uncles never let go of their French accents despite living in Zootopia for decades." Blake appreciated.

"Of course, you work at your family's French restaurant. Well my David may not have a Michelin star but he can create the most delicious dishes, I assure you." Basil commented.

As if on cue Olivia and David walked in with the dishes of traditional Indian Starters "Did I just hear you singing my praises?" David asked, feigning surprise.

"You wish." Basil jested.

A good ninety minutes later and three courses later the four rodents were laughing and sharing stories around the dining table. "There was only one time Olivia truly threw a tantrum." David remembered before supping on his fourth beer.

"Daddy no, don't tell him that story." Olivia reacted, aghast.

"Oh now I have to know." Blake grinned.

"Well it was coming up to her eighth birthday and she was adamant that she wanted a slumber party because all of her friends in class had one that year, sounds simple enough right?" Basil painted the picture.

"Sure." Blake agreed before taking a swig of his beer.

"The only problem was that none of Olivia's friends were rodents." David chortled "Her best friend Luna is a vixen and she also wanted to invite a giraffe and a mongoose."

"But how would they fit in here?" Blake asked, motioning to the rodent sized room.

"That's what we said to her but would she accept it? No." Basil revealed, looking over at the embarrassed look on his daughter's face.

"Daddies, please." She pleaded, not wanting the embarrassing childhood memory to be unearthed.

"She screamed at us 'You're stupid because you didn't buy a big house!' then she started stamping her feet whenever she walked, wouldn't eat dinner, trashed her room, she even gave us an ultimatum by hiding our car keys until she got her way." David reminisced with a smile on his face.

Blake looked over at Olivia and grinned devilishly "You little brat."

"Ugh, I know." Olivia admitted, hiding her face in her paws.

"So what did you do?" Blake asked the Dawsons.

"We did what any sane parents would do, we caved." Basil chortled.

"What? But how?" Blake asked, completely baffled.

"Well we called in a favour with Luna's dad and we managed to set up a camping trip for the girls, so it was a slumber party but outdoors." David explained.

"Clever." Blake complimented with a small laugh before raising his glass to his lips once more.

Basil who had been enjoying his meal and first meeting with Blake up until this point looked over at his guest and for a brief second heard the same type of low laugh and saw the same mannerisms as another rat he knew all too well; Rattigan.

Basil had completely spaced out and was looking at Blake with actual fear in his eyes when Olivia had to say loudly "Daddy, are you ok?"

Basil regained his senses and shook off the fear, seeing the scared but friendly face of Blake Gusteau instead of his nemesis before turning to Olivia and easily fibbing "Sorry Olivia, the wine has gone straight to my head, once a lightweight always a lightweight eh?"

"Oh darling, you'll never learn." David giggled at his husband.

"Well, I have to say David that was a delicious meal, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were Indian not English." Blake praised.

"Flattery will definitely put you in my good books, my boy." David replied while Basil tried to get rid of his paranoid delusion but he couldn't help it now, every time he looked at Blake he was reminded of Padraic Rattigan.

000

Luna had risen just after one in the afternoon, she wandered into the living room to find Robyn doing her homework at the kitchen table but the hybrid stopped her studies in an instant and made Luna some fresh coffee and a turkey bacon sandwich. The vixen thanked her sister for the gesture but when Robyn tried to get Luna to open up about what had happened she clammed up and said "I don't want to talk about it."

After her very late breakfast she was tempted just to climb back into her childhood bed and cry herself to sleep again but she got a whiff of herself and realised she needed a shower but in this case maybe a bath would be more relaxing. She drew a bath and filled it with relaxing salts and sweet-smelling liquids that her Mom kept at the edge of the tub, she spent a good forty five minutes in the bath before exiting and wrapping herself in a towel but when she looked in the mirror she saw a reflection of herself that didn't match her mood, this image was scowling back at her.

" _Pathetic."_ Andraste criticised.

"Shut up, this is all your fault." Luna griped at her other self.

" _Oh yes, blame the identity that you deny even exists."_ Andraste returned with spite.

"Is that why you did it? Why you fucked Alice? To prove that you were real?" Luna accused.

" _Look I went into her apartment wanting to kick the living shit out of her but…I couldn't do it."_ Andraste answered in a defensive manner.

"Don't play that game with me, we both know your only in it for the thrill." Luna sniped.

" _Luna when are you going to realise that you want what I want? You wanted to sleep with Alice as much as I did."_ Andraste parried.

"I never wanted to cheat on Aleks!" Luna snapped.

" _That's why I did it for you, for us."_ Andraste argued.

"Did you see the look on Aleks' face? Or were you not looking? He was destroyed by what we did to him, he wasn't even angry…he looked so sad and so torn up by what happened." Luna cried.

" _I know you're hurting Luna but we both know that you feel something for Alice, I know your heart beats a little faster when you think about her, that when you saw her scars you thought they were the most beautiful thing you had ever seen."_ Andraste attempted to persuade.

"I hate her, I hate you and I hate me!" Luna growled at the mirror before trotting over to the free-standing fur dryer, as the warm air removed the moisture from her ginger fur she thought about how she hated herself and how she missed Aleks more and more.

000

'What becomes of the Broken Hearted?' by Jimmy Ruffin, the famous Motown ram singer, had become Ronin's go to track ever since her very messy morning after with Luna, usually the lapin would set up for an assassination listening to the classical music that her master Oni used to listen to. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't let go of the memories of that horrific morning.

The bunny had her earbuds plugged into her ears as she listened to the Motown melody for the tenth time that day while she constructed her sniper rifle, ready to complete her next contract. Professor Rattigan had decided that the street gang known as The Razors had been allowed to run free for too long and now they had to be brought to their knees and the best way to do that was to take out the leader; a bull rhino named Cole Carter. Every night Carter would make a rallying speech to his gangland soldiers before they went out and committed crimes in the name of their gang, the big idiot would step out of his portacabin office in the junkyard they called home and bluster to his underlings.

Ronin was perched atop of a ruined SUV that was the top car in the junkyard stack, she had already set up a zipwire down to her motorcycle for a speedy get away once the job was done. As the various gang members began to gather for the nightly speech from their leader Ronin paused the track and removed her earbuds and got settled down into a prone position, ready for her mark to appear.

As it seemed that the gang leader would appear at any second an unexpected sound emanated throughout the junkyard, a low booming of a truck horn, this surprised both Ronin and The Razors. Cole Carter burst out of his portacabin flanked by two shotgun wielding henchmen as the truck slowly made it's way into the centre of the compound guarded by dozens of Razors obviously from the front gate. The trunk's engine turned off and out of the driver's seat appeared a mammal whose face had been plastered all over the news in recent weeks; Fuli Duma. "You've got to be kidding me?" Ronin whispered to herself, unable to get a clear shot on Carter due to the increased security."

"Well ain't this something, I always figured you as smart but you must be dumb as shit to waltz into our territory." Carter said loudly, causing a ripple of laughs from his The Razors.

"I have come to parlay with you Carter, so that my brethren and your followers can come to some agreement." Fuli stated, unfazed by all the guns pointed at her.

"You want to talk peace when you've killed over two dozen of us, you best be offering a mountain of gold in return for mercy." Carter blasted.

"My offer is this; The Razors will surrender their turf to The Drowned and in return they will not be tested and are free to leave Zootopia." Fuli declared.

This caused an eruption of laughter from all The Razor especially it's leader who after giving a hearty laugh replied "That ain't much of an offer bitch."

Fuli smiled before knocking on the side of the truck and saying "Well allow me to offer you another option."

The back of the truck opened and eight armed Drowned cultists filed out followed by the giant looming figure of their champion, the titanic white lioness they had named Lily. "Priderock." Ronin quietly gasped upon seeing the lioness, gone were her rags and filthy fur, she was adorned in clothes emblazoned with the Drowned emblem and her fur was as white as her new name suggested.

Murmurs of confusion and fear spread among the Razors upon seeing this strange lioness, so much so Carter asked the obvious "Who the hell is that?"

"This is Lily, The Drowned's champion. She will not strike at you first but she will defend her brothers and sisters, now I ask you again Carter upon seeing our champion will you reconsider my offer?" Fuli asked with a stern tone.

Carter refused to be intimidated and that was going to be his downfall "Shoot that bitch!" Carter bellowed pointing at Fuli, the two shotgun wielding heavies fired off the spread shot at Fuli but in a flash Kiara was blocking the path and the buckshot just bounced off her. The lioness bared her teeth and Ronin knew it was all about to go to hell.

(AN/ What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review, next time on SOC Alice has to race for her life, Aleks faces his new situation, Robyn plans a scheme and Alice makes an uneasy alliance with an old ally/foe. Please review and c ya soon...)


	30. Enemy?

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais, thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. And guess what? With this chapter this fic has topped the 200k words mark, way more than originally anticipated. So withouth further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 29- Enemy?**

Carter refused to be intimidated and that was going to be his downfall "Shoot that bitch!" Carter bellowed pointing at Fuli, the two shotgun wielding heavies fired off the spray shot at Fuli but in a flash Kiara was blocking the path and the buckshot just bounced off her. The lioness bared her teeth and Ronin knew it was all about to go to hell.

With unrivalled speed Kiara fired her paw forward and grabbed the nearest Blade gang member, a female maned wolf, and with one grip of her fist the maned wolf was crushed, her final scream was louder than the sound of crushing bones and splurges of blood and organs, as the broken body of the maned wolf hit the ground every Razor felt a stab of fear for their lives. "KILL THAT LIONESS!" Carter commanded at the top of his lungs.

The entire junkyard erupted with gunfire as both The Drowned and The Razors started firing at each other, with Fuli using a big dagger to slash at any nearby enemies and Kiara laying waste to any Razor in her path keeping her eerily still face as he maimed and murdered. Ronin who was still perched upon the tower of wrecked vehicles could only look on in astonishment as the lioness tore through her enemies like a blade cuts through grass. The battle was a gruesome scene of red, one of which Ronin was all to accustomed too but it hurt her soul to see Kiara use such cruelty. Kiara was an honourable soldier before she became this titan, Ronin had seen this decorated ranger in action and it pained her to witness how the patriot had become a puppet.

Kiara lunged at Carter and in a split second Ronin had to make a decision; to kill Carter herself and collect her $10k or let Kiara rip him apart. Honour would not allow Ronin to claim a kill someone else committed but if she did let Kiara end Carter it would me in her standing in the underworld would be lowered even more (Especially after refusing the Ceartais contract last night) so in that nanosecond Ronin pulled the trigger of her rifle and the bullet found it's mark, Carter's skull exploded and his brain and skull fragments sprayed all over Kiara's vicious paw.

The louder bang of the sniper rifle made everyone look around but the mammal who saw it first was the very mammal Ronin wished would notice her " _Oh Putain."_ Ronin uttered as Kiara laid eyes upon the assassin. Ronin acted on reflex and dropped her rifle and latched onto the zipwire to her escape route as Kiara let out a booming roar that made everyone in radius cover their ears and brought them to their knees. Ronin fell off her handle on the wire half way down due to the roar, but her pain tolerance forced to her feet and onto her motorcycle within a heartbeat. As Ronin ignited the engine of her bike, a wall of tyres and scrapped vehicles burst open twenty metres away revealing the crazed and goddess like form of Kiara Priderock. Ronin accelerated away but Kiara gave chase, the bike was high spec and could do 0-60mph in under three seconds and yet by the time the bike hit the 60mph mark Kiara was uncomfortably close and a swipe of her claws narrowly missed the bike.

Luckily the chase was within the ruined part of the Sherwood borough designated as a disaster zone, where there was no mammals or traffic but lots of ruined buildings and cornered off construction sites, that's when an idea popped into Ronin's head. She just needed to lead Kiara to the construction site close to remnants of the old mini mall. Ronin looked at the speedometer, she was at 97mph and Kiara was still close behind her, swiping her claws down at Ronin whenever she thought she was in striking distance. Ronin made a sharp left and sped towards the abandoned mini mall with Kiara still in pursuit "You shall be destroyed! It is the wave's will!" Kiara screamed with rage, her feet hitting the ground sounded like booms of thunder.

"Priderock, stop this!" Ronin yelled, but with the sound of the motorcycle's engine the plea was lost. As Ronin and Kiara got closer to the mall the assassin saw something in the road that could maybe slow the enraged lioness down. A heavily damaged 18-wheeler truck left abandoned from the night of the wave was in the middle of the road, it's wagon was still attached and it's undercarriage was tall enough for a bunny sized bike to pass under with ease. Ronin steered the motorcycle to align with the truck's undercarriage and sped through at 110mph, she expected Kiara to waste a few seconds clambering over the wagon but instead the titan charged straight through the vehicle like it was nothing, roaring as she did so and hardly losing any speed.

Ronin witnessed this through her wing mirrors and grumbled " _Merde."_ But she could see the mini mall now, she knew that the repair crews had been working on the building for about a week with only the entrance for small to medium mammals being cleared of rubble from the earthquake so far, it would be impossible for Kiara to get through. As she zoomed towards the newly repaired glass doors she got out her pistol and fired two shots at the pane, shattering them and opening the way for the fleeing lapin. Ronin had made sure her bike's tires were puncture proof before she had bought them for occasions such as this, she zipped through the main doors and over the shattered glass and into the mall which was heavily scaffolded from it's ongoing repairs. Ronin thought as soon as she made it to the other side of the mall, where the parking lot was, she'd be home free… but she was wrong.

The entire entrance ripped open as the brainwashed Kiara torpedoed her way through the building in pursuit of Ronin, the giant lioness tore through the scaffolding, bricks and anything else that stood in her way with hardly slowing down. Ronin looked over her shoulder and could see the fury on Kiara's face, the former ranger wasn't going to stop and that made Ronin afraid "This is not how I die, this is not how I die!" Ronin chanted to herself, desperately trying to figure out how to escape this hunt. She could see the parking lot ahead, through the big glass windows next to a ramp meant to move wheelbarrows of cement up and down, and when she saw the temporary electrical substation just outside a plan quickly formed. She aimed her handgun once again and shot at the window directly in front of the ramp, Ronin then raced up the ramp at speed before jumping over the substation on the bike while tossing some smoke bombs back at Kiara as she was in mid air. Kiara was stunned for a moment and lost her footing as she crashed through the large windows and fell right into the substation as Ronin's bike hit the ground and skidded to a stop. Kiara wailed in agony as she was electrocuted, sparks of electricity crackled around her as she pain filled screams filled the night, she writhed around in the mess of wires trying to free herself but she just couldn't.

This would kill any other mammal in an instant but the fact that Kiara was awake and screaming led Alice to believe the feline would live to see another day, she gave a sad and tired sigh as she gazed upon the once proud soldier now she was just a beast controlled by a cruel leader, Ronin knew what that life was like better than anyone. The sound of another engine startled Ronin, she looked to other side of the parking lot and saw The Drowned's truck approaching. Ronin voiced her realisation "They must've put a tracker on her." Before speeding away from the scene on her bike with the sound of Kiara's wails haunting her.

000

Monday morning came and Olivia decided to do some tinkering to her mech, she used the secret elevator in her lab at Dawson tech to whizz down to the bunker. The elevator opened in the main atrium of the secret base and was a little surprised to see Luna's Bugatti parked up. Robin senior had the hood up and was tuning up the engine while Marian was installing a new S.O.S alarm hidden in the sound system of the car. "Hey guys," Olivia greeted, still in cheery mood after her weekend "Luna's here?"

Robin senior had a sombre look on his muzzle before answering "Yeah, she's down in the training room."

Olivia took note of the old todd's expression and tone and asked cautiously "What's the matter?"

Marian got out of the driver's seat and answered in a concerned voice "I think it's best if Luna explains it to you herself, my dear."

"Ok?" Olivia responded, clearly confused and worried. The brown mouse made her way down to the training room beside the gym, it was a room that had augmented reality tech at it's heart, team members would test their skills while wearing glasses that showed the very realistic looking enemies. Luna was dressed in sportswear and darting around the room while wielding the bow specially built for training room, that would fire digitized arrows at the digitized enemies. Olivia climbed the purpose built ladders up to the desk and looked at the status screen and grew more fretful as she could see that Luna had been in the same simulation since 7am, it was now just past 10am and it was set on the highest difficulty. Olivia didn't hesitate in pressing the 'End Simulation' button on the screen, Luna stopped moving in her tracks and looked to the control room with uneasy look in her amber eyes, like a kid waiting outside the principal's office.

Luna walked into the control room without protesting that Olivia had ended her training session abruptly, she just walked over to the mini fridge and retrieved a bottle of water without even acknowledging her best friend. This made Olivia suspicious and decided to call the vixen out on it, Olivia cleared her throat before doing her best Luna impression "Hi Olivia, it's so good to see you, how was your weekend?"

Luna looked at Oliva with a guilty expression and mumbled "Sorry."

"What the hell is up with you? Your grandparents are acting weird too." Olivia asked in a critical tone.

"They're probably ashamed of me." Luna assumed grimly.

"Luna, something is clearly upsetting you so talk to your best friend about it, will ya'?" Olivia encouraged.

Luna knew everyone would find out eventually so she decided to tell her best friend since kindergarten quickly akin to ripping off a band aid "I cheated on Aleks, I told him late Friday night and he dumped me." Even though the words were spoken with haste, it still hurt to say it.

"Whoa, what?" Olivia gawped "You cheated? You? But you love Aleks, don't you?"

"I do," Luna replied truthfully while her heart ached "yet I slept with someone else."

"Wait this happened Friday? Why didn't you tell me then?" Olivia asked, her pitch becoming higher.

"I knew you were introducing Blake to your parents on Saturday, I didn't want to ruin that. And by the time yesterday came all I could feel was shame, I didn't feel I could face anyone." Luna confided.

"Oh Luna." Olivia sympathised, her eyes becoming watery, she outstretched her arms and instructed "Come here."

Luna walked over to the desk and opened up her paw, Olivia jumped onto Luna's paw and ran up her arm before resting on her shoulder and hugging the side of her face, it was practice Olivia had done since they were kids and it still brought comfort to Luna "You should've called me." Olivia whispered.

"I know," Luna agreed "but I felt like the worst mammal in the world…I still do."

"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but who was it you cheated on Aleks with?" Olivia asked the loaded question.

"…It doesn't matter who it was with, the fact is I did it…sort of." Luna avoided.

"What do you mean 'Sort of'? Did something happen?" Olivia asked, fearing the worst.

"Nothing like that," Luna eased "it just complicated. You know I go to therapy ever since what happened with Cheng?"

"Yeah?" Olivia asked back, wondering where the link was.

"I used to blame all the bad stuff I did on Andraste, I used to treat her like she wasn't me." Luna tried to explain.

"But you are Andraste." Olivia pointed out, her voice slowing slightly to show her confusion.

"My therapist used to say I was using Andraste as a coping mechanism, as an outlet for my guilt, I used to believe him…until The Drowned attacked my penthouse." Luna confessed.

"What do you mean?" Olivia questioned.

"I wasn't in control, I can't remember the battle with The Drowned, when you showed up it was like I woke up in the middle of a conversation but for some reason I knew what had happened, Andraste had taken control." Luna revealed.

"So you're saying Andraste is a different personality? Like when you put on the mask you become someone different?" Olivia theorised, while feeling a sense of dread.

"Not always but sometimes I switch off, I become Andraste completely, like the other night when I slept with someone else." Luna answered, pretty sure she sounded crazy.

"So Andraste cheated on Aleks, not you?" Olivia tried to figure out.

"Exactly! I woke up in a stranger's bed and then everything was revealed to me...my soul didn't cheat but my body did." Luna said, disgusted with herself.

"So this mammal didn't force, uh, the other you?" Olivia tried to word the sentence correctly.

"No, if anything Andraste seduced them." Luna confessed, an image of Alice's beautiful face flickered through the vixen's memory for a second, a paradox of disgust and attraction simmered in her heart before saying "You must think I'm crazy."

"No!" Olivia reacted "Luna I would never think that!"

"Well I'm pretty sure I'm crazy, hell I even considered checking myself into a mental health ward this morning." Luna dropped a bombshell.

"Luna, you can't mean that." Olivia tried to reverse.

"It's the truth, I'm crazy, I sometimes let another version of me take the reigns of my brain and she does horrible things. I mean I even get hallucinations sometimes." Luna freaked, wanting to curl up and cry.

"Then you go to your therapist, don't do anything rash, we can fix this." Olivia attempted to rally.

"But what about Aleks? I can't fix that, that's all in flames." Luna reminded with sadness in her voice.

"We'll figure this out, don't worry." Olivia reassured "Now, let's get something out of the way, who did you sleep with?"

Luna was afraid to answer and was about to refuse to blab when the message tone of her phone with a rare tune, "That's the hospital's message tone." Luna breathed, grabbing her phone off the desk and reading it before muttering "Damn."

"Something bad?" Olivia figured.

"There's an eight year old horse who needs emergency surgery, I've got to go in." Luna informed, letting go of her grief in an instant and suddenly became professional.

"Go, we'll talk later." Olivia nodded, running down the arm and jumped off onto the desk.

Without a farewell Luna dashed up the stairs and towards the main elevator out of the Bunker leaving a concerned Olivia worried not only for the heart of her best friend but also her mind. Olivia closed her eyes and dragged the word "Shi-t.", her cheery mood she had woken up with was now long gone but before she could think of anything else the mouse's own message tone beeped. Olivia got out her phone and opened the message 'Olivia I need your help with something 😊 – Robyn'

000

Aleks Rojek looked prim and proper as ever as he walked into precinct 1, he may have looked the same as always but internally he was shattered. The Polish fox's weekend had been hell, he found that the love of his life had cheated on him, he dumped her in an instant and had been feeling the heartbreak all weekend. He wanted to call Luna, tell her that he forgives her and go back to the way things were. But the simple fact was that he couldn't forgive Luna for what she did, Aleks had already been through an emotional ringer ever since the night he first learnt about Luna's alter ego, it was mind blowing for him but he accepted this heroic side of Luna and encouraged her to go back into that life. And now this had happened, Luna had slept with Ronin a mammal who hadn't only attacked ZPD officers but had killed countless mammals since she had arrived in the city.

During a weak moment on Sunday he had picked up his smartphone, selected Judy's number and contemplated pressing call and telling her everything; that Luna was Andraste, that she had disabled Cheng and that she was literally sleeping with the enemy. But Aleks was too much of a nice guy for his own good, he knew that would destroy the Wilde family and ruin Luna's life, he was furious with her but he wasn't vindictive. He vowed that when he arrived at work that he was going to act as professional as possible, even when he spoke to Judy, he was charged with protecting and serving Zootopia and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Rollcall began as usual with the whooping, chanting and howling as Hopps strolled in, flashing a concerned look at Aleks before continuing to walk and hop onto her podium to begin the briefing. "All right you lot, zip it!" Judy yelled causing everyone to fall silent, Judy looked at her tablet and continued "If you hadn't already heard The Razor's compound was attacked by The Drowned last night leaving thirty eight dead, The Drowned took all their weapons, cash and prescription drugs before torching the place. What's odd is that The Drowned torched the junkyard to the ground using a special accelerant that does not spread the fire past a certain point."

Judy pressed a button on her tablet and an image of dishevelled looking Alpaca showed up on screen, the rabbit then continued "Our guys down in CSI matched the accelerant was specifically used and developed by an ex con known as Hank Mortimer, he got out last year after serving six years for arson, he hasn't checked in with his parole officer in three weeks but our sources say he is held up in a run down apartment block in the Cacti Gardens neighbourhood of Sahara square."

"What's the plan Chief?" Bradley, the Bison in charge of SWAT asked.

"Surround the area, access whether or not it's a Drowned stronghold before breaching and capturing Mortimer, he has been known to use weapons in the past so be careful." Judy instructed.

The rest of the morning briefing went as normal but as the teams were dismissed and went to leave Judy quickly scurried over to Aleks and alerted "Aleks."

The silver fox turned and formally replied "Yes Chief?"

"H-how are you doing after what happened?" Judy asked, sounding awkward.

"If you are asking whether or not my ability to perform my duties has been compromised due to my break up, fret not, I am more than capable to work." Aleks answered coldly.

"That's not what I meant." Judy sighed "I can't imagine what you're going through right now but I want you to know that I was really rooting for you two."

Aleks' hard expression softened slightly before quietly answering "I know you were Judy…can I ask you for one thing?"

"Anything." Judy reacted, seeing the slight signs pain in Alek's expression.

"Take care of Luna, she acts tough but she's more fragile than she lets on, she'll need you and the rest of her family." Aleks spoke from the heart, he was filled with anger and some hatred for the vixen but he still loved her.

"Of course," Judy nodded, wishing that this gentlemammal's pain would disappear "stay safe out there."

"You've got it, Chief." Aleks gave a small salute and walked out of the bullpen to join his SWAT team.

An hour later precinct 1's SWAT team were ascending the stairwell to the arsonist's apartment on the sixth floor, Mortimer's apartment was the closest to the stairs and the sniper team across the street could clearly see the alpaca not only working on fuel for fires but he was also cooking meth, luckily there was no one else in the apartment however one wrong shot and the entire place could blow so they would have to be careful. Aleks was on point with his superior Bradley close behind along with the four other members of the SWAT team, but just as they made to the sixth floor Aleks could hear careful footfalls coming down the stairwell from above them, he signalled for the team to stop and whispered to Bradley "Unknown mammal coming down the stairs."

"Probably a resident, we'll get them to safety." Bradley decided, hearing the footsteps himself and waiting for the mammal to appear but when the mammal appeared it was not a normal civilian. It was a white tiger in black military fatigues holding an assault rifle, the union flag and some regiment insignias were on his sleeves. Above the tiger was a female Indian flying fox flapping, the ginger furred bat was in similar gear to the tiger but had the insignias were on her chest due to her uniform not having sleeves and instead of the union flag there was the US flag, three small drones were also whirring around her. "Halt!" Bradley gave a hushed blast "Identify yourselves!"

Ray look unimpressed and unintimidated by the Bison he just answered in a firm yet quiet voice "Flight Lt. Ray Kamino of the Camelot task force, this is Corporal Nightfall."

"Sup'." Zoe smiled, landing on Ray's shoulder.

"Camelot? Never heard of ya' and what's the British doing here?" Bradley blustered, pissed off that the military were interfering on his op.

Ray let out a irritated sigh before informing "Camelot is a joint US/UK counter terror unit, this mission has been sanctioned by both governments and you and your cops are interfering."

"Oh no you don't, let me radio the chief to confirm this." Bradley reacted, the sour Bison then reached for his radio.

While Ray and Bradley argued about who's op this was Aleks could feel a set of eyes on him, he looked up at Ray's shoulder and found his suspicions to be true, a pair of magenta eyes framed by black rimmed glasses were staring right at him and they belonged to the mischievous face of Corporal Zoe Nightfall. "Um, can I help you?" Aleks asked, keeping his volume low as to not alert Mortimer whose apartment was less than ten feet away.

"Oh I hope so." Zoe grinned.

"Excuse me?" Aleks asked, scrunching up his face in puzzlement.

Zoe let out a chuckle before saying "Damn why is it always the innocent ones that are the cutest?"

Aleks was not in the mood to be mocked and replied with a stony face "I am not cute."

"Ooh look at that pout, sure makes a girl's heart melt." Zoe cooed before giggling again.

"Nightfall flirt on your own time, remember our mission." Ray quietly scolded.

"Oh come on sir, it's rare to meet another Polish mammal in this job." Zoe whined.

"You're Polish?" Aleks queried, confused by the flying's fox's American accent and the US flag on her uniform.

"Polish-American," Zoe corrected "I'm from Kuyavia originally, my family moved to the states when I was six, got citizenship and joined the army straight after high school."

Aleks was about to reply when his radio crackled " **Sniper team to Strike force, Mortimer is packing up loads of cash and fuel….wait, he's spraying accelerant everywhere, he's going to torch the place!"**

Ray overheard the conversation and made a split second decision "We have to move in now together, we need him alive, so no one kill him." He ordered.

"Roger." Zoe concurred, taking to the air again.

"Ugh, fine." Bradley agreed begrudgingly "Rojek you take point and breach with this limey."

Ray just rolled his eyes at the lame insult while Aleks accepted his task with a quick "Yes sir."

Aleks and Ray were at the head of the pack with Zoe and her three drones flying above them, the front door was old and flimsy, one good kick from a large mammal would knock it down with ease. Aleks seemed to read Ray's mind and they both nodded in unison before the white tiger kicked down the door reducing it to splinters, they expected to find Mortimer caught off guard but instead he was holding a lit lighter ready to throw on the floor but habit made Aleks yell "ZPD! FREEZE!"

Even with all the guns on him the Alpaca Mortimer didn't seem that scared, just a bit twitchy but that was most likely due to sampling his own meth "You cops are pretty damn stupid, I could hear you bitching down the hall." Mortimer smarmed.

"Surrender Mortimer, this place is surrounded." Ray willed.

"Nope, you see if I drop this lighter three floors of this building will go up in flames and you don't want that do ya'?" Mortimer parried "You're going to give me a gun and I want a helicopter and pilot to take me out of here!"

"You're kidding me right? That old cliché?" Zoe pointed out, her drones ready to fire at the alpaca at any second.

"Get on it or this place goes boom." Mortimer threatened.

Aleks could see this arsonist/meth cook was unstable, his hoof that held the lighter was trembling, in a breath he could drop the lighter and dozens of lives would be lost in a hellfire. Aleks looked at the lighter and a plan quickly formed, he saw a fish tank on desk behind Mortimer and hoped his old trick shot skills were still with him. "Rojek drop this fool." Bradley whispered.

"But the lighter?" Aleks whispered back with alarm.

"It's a risk we'll have to take." Bradley justified.

Aleks wasn't about to endanger so many lives so needlessly plus this mammal was more useful alive than dead, her put his faith in his skills and fired the shot from his assault rifle but not at the arsonist alpaca, he shot at the lighter, when the bullet connected with the metal it pinged out of Mortimer's hoof and into the fish tank behind. Before Mortimer could even react Ray charged over and slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of the arsonist's head sending him clattering to the ground in an unconscious lump.

Aleks was about to move into the next rooms to check if they were clear when Bradley but his big ol' hoof on the rookie's shoulder and grinned "The trick shot king." All of a sudden the rest of the team burst in and crowded around Aleks, slapping him on the back and a female polar bear cop gave him a noogie while they cheered "Trick shot king, trick shot king!"

"You know we haven't checked if the apartment's clear yet?" Ray asked Bradley in a condescending tone while binding Mortimer's wrists.

"Hey my boy just saved your ass, show some respect." Bradley snapped back

Zoe fluttered back into the room with her drones while informing in a loud voice "All rooms clear."

"Thank you, Nightfall." Ray acknowledged before stepping over to Aleks and extending his paw "You have my thanks, officer?"

"Rojek, Aleks Rojek." Aleks replied, shaking Ray's paw.

"That was fast thinking and you saved everyone's life in this room, you should feel proud." Ray complimented.

"I was just doing my duty." Aleks replied humbly.

Fifteen minutes later Mortimer had been taken away and was under arrest for a multitude of charges including assisting a terror group and manufacturing narcotics, even if the alpaca was heading to precinct 1 it was going to be homeland security who questioned him, not the cops. Currently Ray was tearing a make shift office apart looking for clues regarding to The Drowned's location, this office obviously used to be a bedroom seeing as stack of files and papers mostly containing formulas were mounted on a small single bed and other furniture. Ray was flicking through a file marked 'X-MAS' when he heard a familiar voice greet "Hello Raymond."

Ray dropped the file and grabbed hold of his gun and aimed at the source of the voice he knew all too well "Ronin." He snarled.

Ronin stood in the doorway with her paws raised "I just want to talk Ray." She tried to convince. The assassin had easily slipped through the SWAT guards unnoticed.

"Pull the other one, I'm not falling for that." Ray enforced.

"We both know if I wanted you dead your head would be severed by now." Ronin pointed out, walking into the room "I mean it, we need to talk."

Ray lowered his gun but not his tone "Talk? After what you did to Kiara? Yeah I heard about your little hunt."

"I'd say that was just desserts after her, you and the rest of Camelot left me for dead in Borneo, you left me behind in the middle of bloodbath, I nearly died." Ronin sniped back, folding her paws across her chest.

"We had our orders, we needed to evacuate all Camelot personnel and you are just an assassin." Ray threw back.

"The assassin that does all the dirty jobs your government doesn't want their spec ops team to do, I considered you my comrades." Ronin replied venomously.

"Is this why you're here? To have a shouting match?" Ray growled.

"No…Look I have some ne-" Ronin began.

"Ronin!?" An excited voice beamed, Zoe then flew into room and flapped happily around the white rabbit "Oh my god, it's been so long!"

Ronin couldn't help but smile under her mask at the youngest member of Camelot, she was glad to see that the bat still had her bubbly personality "Little Zoe, you never change."

"Quit it with the little will, I'm a corporal now." Zoe responded.

Ray saw this and boomed "Nightfall!" before pointing at a bedpost for her to stand on, Zoe did as she was told and stood to attention on the bedpost.

But before Ray could continue a pissed voice grumbled "You've got to be shitting me."

Ronin turned around to see Aleks Rojek in the doorway with a face like a thunder "R-Rojek?" the bunny choked.

"Oh look it's the rabbit who ruined my life." Aleks said dryly before aiming his gun at the bunny "Put your hands behind your head, you're under arrest for assaulting ZPD officers and multiple counts of murder."

"Rojek please, I'm trying to help!" Ronin protested, holding her paws up to show she meant no harm.

"You ruined my life in one night and now you're here before me, it seems like the universe is on my side." Aleks stated, wondering if he could shoot the assassin in a kneecap before her paw touched katana.

"Did you guys hook up? Cos' I'm sensing a lot of tension here." Zoe smirked.

"NO!" Aleks and Ronin replied simultaneously and with equal force.

"Rojek lower your gun, Ronin has intel." Ray commanded.

"But she's a criminal!" Aleks defied.

"Noted, but her information could save lives so lower your bloody gun." Ray said with authority, Aleks did as commanded causing Ray to say "Nightfall go flirt with this fox outside the apartment will you, I need a word with Ronin here."

"Roger," Zoe nodded, before taking off from the bedpost "come on foxy, follow me."

Once Ray was sure Rojek was out of earshot he turned to Alice and demanded to know "What do you want?"

"I need a list of all assassins' aliases who've entered California in the last 48 hours, I know those NSA stooges Chip and Dale keep a track of our comings and goings." Alice answered.

"Why?" Ray wondered, keeping his steely gaze on Ronin.

"There's been a contract issued on Team Ceartais, two kill orders on Andraste and Bullet, and captures for the rest." Ronin came clean.

Ray's eyes went wide, he had alliance with Ceartais and intended to keep them safe but he kept his composure as he asked "Who ordered the hit?"

"Cloudkicker offered me the hit, so I'm going to guess Phelps Arms issued the contract." Ronin assumed "Phelps probably wants the empowered members of the team to experiment on."

"Why do you want this list?" Ray pondered.

"I need to stop the hitmammals." Ronin answered firmly.

"Why?" Ray interrogated.

"Let's just say I owe them, ok?" Ronin brushed off.

"And what do I get in return?" Ray asked the important question.

"Intel on Kiara Priderock." Ronin unveiled.

"K-Kiara?" Ray murmured.

"Promise me the list and I'll tell you right now, I know you won't break a promise Ray, it's not your style." Ronin reassured.

"Ok, I'll get you the list." Ray promised "Now tell me about Kiara."

"I…I saw her last night, Ray." Ronin opened, knowing Ray would not take the upcoming revelations well.

"What? Did she look well? Was she in Elixir form?" Ray asked with anxiety in his tone.

"She tried to kill me, quite a few times." Ronin breathed "Look Ray I'm sorry, but she's with The Drowned now."

"…No." Ray mumbled "Y-You're lying, this is a trick, she isn't a terrorist."

"Ray listen to me, they've done something to her, they've messed with her mind, she's Fuli's puppet now." Ronin told "If you don't believe me check the security cams on the construction site around the Sherwood mini mall, you'll see her wearing the Drowned symbol."

Ray's stoic nature was betrayed by a tear that formed in his right eye, he quickly wiped it away and turned away from the assassin. "I've got your number, I'll contact you tomorrow with the list." He promised.

"Thank you Raymond," Ronin said sincerely before walking over to the window and opening it "find her, promise me you'll save her, she doesn't deserve this."

"I promise." Ray vowed and before he could fully turn to the window Ronin was gone.

000

Hannah Marian Savage was sixteen years old, the striped hybrid had awoken to find her parents had made her a calorific birthday breakfast of waffles, eggs and turkey bacon with loads of syrup. Jack actually hugged his little girl for a good minute while in tears, not believing his daughter was finally sixteen. The three posed for photos that Hannah joked that she would never see before receiving her two presents; one was a pair of exquisite satin ballet slippers because Hannah still loved to practise despite her disability and the other was a smart watch specifically designed for blind mammals, that used little bumps in the face of the watch to translate any texts or other info via brail. The teen was ecstatic with her gifts and thanked her parents greatly as they walked her to her mini bus to school.

Her classmates had organised her a birthday cake during lunch and had sung happy birthday to her which she couldn't help but feel mushy at, even though she had been at the Zootopia school for the blind a short time everyone had made her feel welcome there, they had comforted her when she felt down and encouraged her in her studies, everyone in her class was truly a friend.

But when the final bell rang Hannah stepped out the main entrance of school and caught the scent of the mammal she loved most in the world; Robyn Heather Wilde. As soon as she sensed Robyn, Hannah ran straight towards her girlfriend and planted a loving smooch on her lips, when the two pulled apart all Robyn could say in her love-drunk haze was "And Happy Birthday to you."

Hannah insisted that she didn't want a fuss around her birthday, Robyn had suggested ideas of fancy restaurants and concerts but all Hannah wanted was to hold hands with her beloved. Robyn caved and stuck to Hannah's wishes; Robyn treated Hannah to a buggaburger meal and that's all she wanted. But during the meal Robyn had presented her birthday gift to Hannah, it was a silver bracelet adorned with aquamarine gems but within the metal hid a message only readable by brail 'I love you Blind Badass'. Hannah adored the gift and had a very lengthy snog with Robyn in the middle of the fast food joint in thanks not caring that so many eyes were watching them.

Now came the final part of Hannah's birthday celebration, she had requested to both her parents and her girlfriend that they just sit down and 'Watch' her favourite movie; The Princess Bride. Even though Hannah could never see the film again, she knew the film off by heat and relished the thought of being sat on a sofa with her parents and her girlfriend while they watched this classic film. Robyn and Hannah walked hand in hand as they made their way to Hannah's home "Thank you for tonight." Hannah smiled.

"Don't worry about it." Robyn brushed off, trying to appear cool, despite feeling giddy every time she held Hannah's paw.

Hannah rested her head on Robyn's shoulder and declared "You're the greatest girlfriend on the planet, that's a fact."

Robyn let out a small laugh before jesting "Put me on a pedestal, why don't ya?" the two had stopped outside of Hannah's suburban home.

Hannah replied by lightly nuzzling Robyn's neck and saying "It's the truth." Then the drop of something from inside her home made her sharpen her senses, she detected her parents by their scent but could also feel static coming off twenty to thirty other mammals "Drowned!" she crowed before charging through her door.

"Babe, wait!" Robyn called after.

As Hannah raced into the living room ready to swing her cane like a weapon all the lights flipped on and everyone hollered "SURPRISE!" catching Hannah completely off guard. The room was full of mammals Hannah knew; Kodi, Olivia, Kion, Jasiri, Jack & Skye, Nick & Judy, Robin Sr. & Marian, all of her class and some of her old friends from St. Zoo High.

Robyn caught up to Hannah who had lowered her cane before Robyn let out a nervous "Surprise."

(AN/ Surprise! It's party time! What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on SOC; it's Hannah's sweet 16, Rattigan plans more dastardly deeds and Luna runs into even more trouble. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	31. Paradox

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais, thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. Also a big thanks to the SOC Development team who helped create this chapter and thanks to Smoketrail, Boehm and Just-a-broke-machine for beta reading this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 30- Paradox**

Hannah rested her head on Robyn's shoulder and declared "You're the greatest girlfriend on the planet, that's a fact."

Robyn let out a small laugh before jesting "Put me on a pedestal, why don't ya?" the two had stopped outside of Hannah's suburban home.

Hannah replied by lightly nuzzling Robyn's neck and saying "It's the truth." Then the drop of something from inside her home made her sharpen her senses, she detected her parents by their scent but could also feel static coming off twenty to thirty other mammals "Drowned!" she crowed before charging through her door.

"Babe, wait!" Robyn called after.

As Hannah raced into the living room ready to swing her cane like a weapon all the lights flipped on and everyone hollered "SURPRISE!" catching Hannah completely off guard. The room was full of mammals Hannah knew; Kodi, Olivia, Kion, Jasiri, Jack & Skye, Nick & Judy, Robin Sr. & Marian, all of her class and some of her old friends from St. Zoo High.

Robyn caught up to Hannah who had lowered her cane before Robyn let out a nervous "Surprise."

"Damn Stripes, stop swinging that cane around, there's no piñatas at this party."Kodi sniggered, which caused a small ripple of laughter.

"I thought…" Hannah began to explain but was far too embarrassed to continue.

Robyn saw the fuddled look on Hannah's face and eased the striped hybrid's unease by kissing her cheek, "Happy Birthday, Blind Badass." Robyn smiled. Hannah relaxed upon receiving the kiss and soon enough everyone was crowding around the birthday girl for hugs and wishing her well.

Thirty minutes later, the party was in full swing with all the younger guests socializing and dancing in the main rooms while the parents had retreated to the den as not to be a hindrance. Olivia was very conscious that she was the eldest of the young mammals there but wanted to be there for Hannah. She was sipping on some soda and chatting to birthday girl herself. "So you helped Robyn organise all this?" Hannah asked.

"Yep, she text me this morning. So I contacted the guys, the old farts and your parents while she gathered your classmates and old friends from ." Olivia answered, she was sat on Hannah's shoulder as she walked around the party.

"Thank you." Hannah smiled "Talking about guests, why didn't you bring Blake?"

Olivia rolled her eyes before answering in a deadpan voice "Oh yeah I can just picture it 'Hey Blake, wanna come to my sixteen year old friend's party?', he'd ask so many questions like 'Wow you have a lot of young friends, how do you know each other? ' then I'd probably panic and spill the beans about a certain team."

Hannah chuckled at this answer then countered "Oh come on it wouldn't have been that bad."

"Believe me there's been times when I get drunk with my Dads and I've nearly blurted out about what I do at night." Olivia clarified "Or take last week, me and Blake were watching TV and there was a news report about Spitfire came up and they referred to it as a 'he', it took all my mental strength not to scream 'It's a she!' at the TV."

The girls wandered into the packed kitchen where there were boxes upon boxes of pizza of all kinds for the partygoers to feast on, Hannah weaved through the guests to get a slice of the seafood pizza and smelt the scent of a mammal she was unacquainted with, but Hannah did pick up on something and asked out of the blue "Excuse me, but are you Kion's girlfriend?"

Jasiri, who had a mouthful of spicy chicken pizza, answered "Y-eah." She then swallowed her food and added brightly "I'm Jasiri, and you two are Hannah and Olivia, have I got that right?"

"That's us." Olivia smiled, admiring Jasiri's rocker look.

"Uh, Hannah how did you know who I was?" Jasiri asked the question that was niggling at her.

"You smell like Kion." Hannah grinned "So you're the girl who wrangled our sweet little Kion?"

"Yeah that's me and I'm a cradle snatcher to boot." Jasiri joked before letting out a laugh.

"I still can't believe Kion's got a girlfriend," Hannah confided "for a while I thought he was asexual."

"Oh believe me, he isn't." Jasiri winked, laughing some more.

"You didn't?" Olivia gasped "Our little Kion punched his V-Card?"

Jasiri gave a smug look before saying "I'd say more but there are young ears around."

Just then Hannah heard a familiar voice across on the other side of the kitchen, so whispered excitedly "Look over at the fridge, this is going to be so funny."

Jasiri and Olivia looked over to see Kodi leant against the fridge chatting to a blind she-wolf from Hannah's class, Jasiri looked at the scene and was puzzled as to why Hannah seemed so gleeful "Uh, what am I supposed to be looking at?" the spotted hyena asked.

"A guy crashing and burning." Olivia informed with a smirk.

"And 3…2…1…" Hannah smiled, the she-wolf flipped Kodi off before walking out of the kitchen leaving a defeated looking Kodi and triggering the three girls to burst out laughing.

"Bravo Kodi." Olivia chortled, mockingly clapping as she did so.

"I heard those pick up lines, they were corny as hell." Hannah laughed.

"Alright, alright, quit it." Kodi tried to brush off.

"D'aww the little puppy got shot down."Jasiri feigned sympathy, before spying her boyfriend's unmistakable mane through the window out the back yard.

In the back yard there was a raised deck with a barbeque, furniture and also a foosball table. There was a crowd of teens around the table watching as two mammals battled it out; Robyn and Kion. The two mammals were known for being fiercely competitive and it was more amplified when the friends faced each other, they were playing via the two out of three rule and they had both won a match each, it all came down to this match and both were spinning the handles furiously as they tried to get the ball in the goal. Hannah, Olivia, Kodi and Jasiri approached the crowded table and Robyn couldn't help but steal a glance at her beloved, and in that brief moment of distraction, the match was lost, Kion sank the ball into Robyn's goal causing a whoop of celebration from the feline "Yeah! Looks like you lose again squirt."

"What?! I was distracted, I want a rematch!" Robyn barked.

"Other mammals want to play." Kion pointed out before stepping over to Jasiri putting an arm around her.

Robyn was about to protest when Hannah glided over and booped her girlfriend on the nose and playfully enquired "So what distracted you?"

Despite dating for a few months there were still moments that Robyn turned into a ginger ball of jitters whenever Hannah showed her affection in public "W-well, I saw you and you look pretty and…" Robyn trailed off before realising how soppy she sounded and promptly hid her face with her large rabbit like ears.

Hannah took pity on her embarrassed girlfriend and gently parted the ears covering Robyn's face and gave her a short but sweet kiss "You're cute." The blind teen grinned.

This elevated Robyn's shyness to a new level causing Kion to chuckle "Damn squirt, I haven't seen you this flustered since the 'Floatzen' incident."

"Now is not the time to talk about the 'Floatzen' incident!" Robyn reacted, baring her fangs at the lion.

"Floatzen incident?" Hannah repeated, wondering what on earth Kion was talking about.

"Oh wait, Luna told me about this," Olivia remembered with a smirk "is that the time…"

"Olivia don't!" Robyn interrupted with a plea.

"Oh now I have to know." Kodi grinned, his tail wagging with mischief.

Hannah was equally curious and declared "Seeing as I'm the birthday girl I get any wish I want, right?"

"Babe…" Robyn mumbled in an awkward manner.

"I do believe those are the rules." Jasiri threw in.

"But-" Robyn tried to talk but was stopped by the softest of touches.

Hannah daintily put her right index on Robyn's lips then turned to face Kion and instructed "Tell me about the Floatzen incident."

"Well from when Robyn was a toddler all the way up until she was eleven her regular babysitter was always Kiara." Kion told with a big smile on his face "Anyway Kiara was big into princess movies when she was younger and she got Squirt here into them."

"So?" Jasiri shrugged "All kids like those movies."

"Oh, it gets better." Olivia promised.

"Anyway last Christmas Eve I went around to Robyn's apartment to drop off the presents from my family and I bumped into Luna in the elevator who was coming home for Christmas." Kion explained "So Luna opened up the apartment with her spare key and I put the presents under the tree, that's when we heard music coming from Robyn's room."

Robyn's eyes grew fearful while Kodi's eyes grew wide with wonder "What happened next?" the wolf asked with eagerness.

"Luna ad I tip-toed to her door and we can hear Robyn singing along to a tune, seems pretty innocent enough, right? But then we opened the door." Kion built up the tension.

"Crap…" Robyn uttered, wondering if it would be too much to jump at Kion's face and knock him out.

"What did you see?" Hannah asked, the anticipation was clear to hear in her voice.

"There was Robyn singing 'For the first time in forever' from Floatzen and was dancing around her room in the exact dress Princess Anna wore, me and Luna were stood there for a good there for a good thirty seconds before she noticed us."Kion revealed causing Robyn to look at her feet with utter embarrassment while everyone else shared a hearty laugh.

"No way." Jasiri commented before letting out a hyena laugh.

"Why didn't you take pictures?" Kodi asked through a chuckle.

"I was too shocked, I didn't even think about it." Kion replied before laughing once more.

Then without warning Robyn dashed away towards the make shift firing range at the bottom of the garden, startling the group and causing Hannah to mutter "Robyn?" before giving chase, leaving the others wearing guilty faces and wondering if they had gone too far.

Hannah had quickly caught up with her girlfriend. The ginger hybrid had retreated to behind the firing range and was currently letting out her frustration by punching the bricks of the structure over and over, she was holding back but Hannah could sense the density of bricks wouldn't last long with Robyn's strength. Hannah rushed over and grab hold of both of Robyn's wrists before soothing "Calm down."

"Why did Kion have top open his big stupid mouth?" Robyn growled, her voice a collage of anger, embarrassment and sadness.

"It was just a story, we all do stuff we're embarrassed about." Hannah reasoned.

"But's it just…never mind." Robyn partly growled with frustration, turning her back towards her girlfriend.

Hannah could sense that something was bothering Robyn and wanted to fix it, she stepped over and snaked her arms around Robyn's tummy from the back and placed her chin on Robyn's shoulder and asked softly "Why has this got you so worked up?"

"…You're going to think I'm stupid." Robyn replied, finding solace in Hannah's embrace.

"No I won't, you can trust me, I won't tell a soul." Hannah assured, nuzzling her cheek next to Robyn's.

Robyn took a moment to gather her thoughts before saying "There's a reason I kept the princess thing hidden. I always felt that others would laugh at me for it."

"Why would you think that?" Hannah asked, sounding baffled.

"I've always been athletic, scrappy and had a short fuse so people always saw me as a tomboy. I have this one memory from elementary school that sticks in my mind, they were putting on a dumb school play and I really wanted to play the princess, I even put on a dress for the audition." Robyn began, nervously playing with one of her ears.

"What happened?" Hannah inquired, guessing it was something bad.

"As soon as I showed up everyone laughed at me, they said I was too tough and ugly to be a princess." Robyn answered with a dejected voice.

Hannah was mortified that anyone would ever call Robyn ugly but she swallowed her anger and asked "What happened after they said those horrible things to you?"

"I snapped." Robyn replied bluntly "I punched every kid who called me ugly instead of crying…crying showed that they got to me."

Hannah processed this; first and foremost she wanted to find the vile bullies that taunted her love years ago and kick their ass but she also wanted to do this; she flicked Robyn's nose and scolded "Never let anyone tell you that you're ugly, you are the most beautiful mammal in the world."

"You're only saying that because we're dating," Robyn excused "face it, I'm ugly next to you."

Hannah actually growled upon her beloved's self loathing and said with conviction "I would never lie to you, you are the girl I still dream of, you were my first crush and first love. You may not see yourself as a princess, but I do."

Robyn felt teary eyed at the declaration but forced herself not to cry, she took hold of Hannah's paw and asked timidly "So you'll never make fun of my princess obsession?"

"Never." Hannah promised "But there's one thing I want to know."

"And that is?" Robyn leant in.

"If you're Princess Anna, does that make me your Kristoff?" Hannah teased.

Robyn rolled her eyes and commented with a small smile "Not funny."

"I bet you looked gorgeous in that dress." Hannah flirted.

"Stop it." Robyn replied shyly.

Back in the house, more specifically the den, the elder Wildes and the Savages were deep in conversation. Jack and Skye were stood at the fireplace enjoying their bourbons, while Nick and Judy were sat on one couch and Marian and Robin sr. were sat on another. Judy had just finished explaining her proposal for deputizing Team Ceartais and suffice to say the older Wildes were more than a little surprised. "So let me get this straight; you want to legalize vigilantes?" Robin sr. queried, sounding unsure.

"Not vigilantes; heroes. If we get these Ceartais characters to sign up to a set of rules, we can give them powers to arrest criminals and the ZPD can work together with them to bring down kingpins like Rattigan." Judy tried to sway.

"So what would this entail exactly? Would they need to reveal their identities to the ZPD?" Jack asked.

Before Judy could answer Marian snorted "Ha! Good luck with that, there's a reason they wear the masks you know?"

"Marian's right. They'll never agree to that or any rules that you give them." Skye stated "They chose to work outside the law and that's why you can't trust them."

"Whoa, back up, I never said you can't trust them." Marian corrected "Plus you made a deal with us back when the Underworld trio were terrorizing the city and you didn't seem to mind our methods then."

"That was a different time." Skye justified.

"Yeah it was, now it's a hell of a lot worse." Marian shot down.

"We have terrorists laying waste to the city, crime rates are at the highest point since records began, and a quarter of the city was destroyed in The Wave." Robin sr. reminded "If there is an option to deputize Ceartais I'd say take it."

Jack was in agreement with his godparents but was surprised that Nick had changed his tune on the subject, he looked over at his best friend and questioned "So what changed your mind? You were dead against this the first time Judy brought it up."

Nick let out a small sigh before nodding at his wife "It was Carrots who changed my mind, I was just so jaded by the whole vigilante thing, I never saw the bigger picture."

Robin sr. and Marian exchanged an awkward look before Marian said to her son "I know me and your father have made mistakes in the past but I honestly think this is the best path you can take."

"So when do you plan to enact this?" Jack asked.

"After the charity auction at the Opera House on Friday, I'll start laying the ground work this week then on Monday I'll reach out to the team." Nick answered.

Robin sr. and Marian shared another glance, both of them were thinking the same thing; if Team Ceartais' true identities had to be revealed, how would Nick, Judy, Jack and Skye react to finding out their children were heroes?

000

Dr. Luna Elise Wilde felt that she had only one aspect of her life under control at the moment; her work. Luna's loved her job and whereas most workers in the hospital couldn't wait for their shifts to end, the surgeon wished that it could last a bit longer. Because as soon as the shift ended she would have to face reality again; a reality where Aleks had left her, where she was questioning her sanity and where sorrow filled her every waking moment.

Luna had gotten a text from her therapist Dr. Thrash while she was at work telling her that he arrived back in the city and got the two dozen messages that she had left for him, he suggested that she should come to the Snarlbucks coffee shop near the hospital at 9pm for an informal therapy session. Luna's shift finished at 8.45pm and she quickly made her way to the café and found that the racoon therapist was already seated in the corner away from the other patrons. Luna ordered herself some tea seeing a coffee was probably the last thing she needed right now and she sat down with Thrash.

It had taken Luna twenty minutes to explain her situation; the hallucinations, Andraste taking control, sleeping with Alice, confessing to Aleks and her subsequent break-up. Thrash was usually known for his poker face but he couldn't help but looked shocked at some parts of the tale, once Luna had finished explaining her situation he simply asked "So what do you want my help with?"

Luna looked stumped that her usually enlightened therapist had asked such a dumb question "What do you think I want you to do? Recommend me for a stay in a mental health clinic, prescribe me some anti-psychotics, tell me that I'm crazy!" Luna babbled in a panicked but hushed tone.

"You're not crazy Luna, troubled but not crazy." Thrash said firmly "Trust me on that."

"You were wrong about Andraste though, maybe you're wrong about me being nuts." Luna vented.

Thrash sighed and admitted "Yes I was clearly wrong about Andraste but I don't think sending you to a mental health ward is going to help, if anything I think it would only cause Andraste to act out more and more."

"But what about the drugs?" Luna asked, sounding scared.

"Anti-psychotics might work but it won't solve the problem." Thrash reasoned "We need to find a way to appease Andraste."

"You mean I need to just cope with her?" Luna questioned with scepticism.

"No," Thrash said with a shake of his head "you created Andraste out of necessity, a persona where all your anger, frustrations and desires were stored. You saw all these things as bad when in fact they are a natural part of every mammal's mind, what you need in a joining of minds."

"You're saying that I should be more like Andraste?" Luna asked, holding onto her tail for comfort.

"Not exactly but you need to realise it's ok to be angry and frustrated, because the moment you hold back and doubt yourself is the moment that Andraste appears." Thrash theorised.

"I don't know…" Luna mumbled, feeling uneasy.

"Ok let's talk about the mammal you slept with." Thrash opened a new subject.

"Can we not?" Luna groaned.

"Do you want my help or not?" Thrash asked rhetorically "Now you said during your hallucination yesterday that Andraste said you wanted to sleep with Alice as much as she did. Is that true?"

"I'm not gay or inter." Luna huffed.

"You're not answering my question," Thrash pressed "and we both now there is more than two sexualities."

"No, I didn't want to sleep with Alice." Luna stated.

"So why do you think Andraste was attracted to her?" Thrash asked.

"Probably because Ronin is dangerous and Andraste likes that." Luna guessed.

"A viable assumption but I have my own theory," Thrash countered "that Andraste acted upon your desires because you saw a mammal with their own demons and you wanted to comfort them."

"That's not true." Luna replied forcefully.

"Really?" Thrash responded "Because you don't come from a background where sexuality is repressed, your parents are inter and your sister is bisexual and in a healthy romantic relationship with another girl. Face it Luna you looked at Alice and saw the same pain you've gone through, you didn't know the details but it was clear for you to see."

"That's not…" Luna tried to deny but was beginning to doubt herself.

"Be honest with yourself, are you attracted to Alice?" Thrash asked in caring voice.

"It's…it's complicated." Luna admitted "When I think of Alice I want to beat the living daylights out of her and then every so often I get this flicker in my mind and I think she's cute, or that she's victim of circumstance and that maybe I can help her."

"Then help her." Thrash urged.

"I can't, I told you what she does for a living besides I still hate her." Luna made an excuse.

"Forget about Ronin, think about Alice, if you can help her maybe that will satisfy Andraste." Thrash proposed.

"Will that work?" Luna pondered, already thinking it was a terrible idea.

"I don't know," Thrash answered honestly "all you can do is try."

000

Across on the other side of Savannah central Aleks Rojek was reflecting on his first day at work since his break-up, he had remained civil with Judy and had stopped the arsonist torching the building but had run into the mammal that was instrumental to his misery and that had filled him with unwanted rage. He had gone to the firing range after work to try and relieve some stress but that hadn't worked, so he thought maybe a drink would help. Aleks parked his car outside the liquor store and was about to walk in when a bike pulled up beside him with a familiar figure on it. Aleks looked at Ronin and grumbled "Of all the times to not have my gun."

"Hello, Rojek." Ronin greeted in a reserved voice, turning off her engine.

"Why are you here?" Aleks simmered, his tone salty.

"I need to ask you something." Ronin answered before asking "You said something weird at that apartment today, that I ruined your life. Does that mean Luna told you?"

"She told me," Aleks confirmed sourly "and then I packed my bags and left."

"What?! No! Rojek it wasn't Luna, it was-" Ronin rushed to explain.

"Andraste," Aleks interrupted "I know, that's what Luna told me."

"So you know that she never wanted to cheat on you!" Ronin stressed "You have to take her back!"

"I can't do that." Aleks said, his voice full of regret.

"Why not?" Ronin questioned in a frustrated manner.

"Luna's great at a lot of things but lying is not one of them." Aleks told, determined not to cry in front of Ronin.

"What do you mean?" Ronin asked further, getting off her motorcycle.

"When she said that she didn't care about you, that she wasn't attracted to you, I could see in her eyes that she was lying." Aleks revealed.

Ronin absorbed the new information but refused to believe it "No! That's not how it is, Luna hates me!" she denied.

"Maybe she does," Aleks sighed sadly "but I can always tell when Luna is lying."

"Please Rojek, forgive her and take her back, I'm begging you." Ronin implored.

"Why? So you can feel better about what you did? The damage is done." Aleks threw back, while trying to walk away.

Alice rushed in front of Aleks and blocked his way "I need to fix this…please. Scream at me, punch me, I don't care. Anything that'll make this better."

Aleks brushed by Ronin while saying in a cold manner "You'll never be able to fix what you did, you just ruin lives, that's what you do."

Ronin was left speechless as she watch Rojek walk into the liquor store, if she didn't hate herself before, she sure as hell did now. "You're a monster, Alice." She told herself but she brought out of her haze when her encrypted smartphone vibrated, she got it out of her pocket and opened the message, it was from Ray delivering the list of assassins as promised. Only two names were on the list and both made Ronin nervous; Reirei and Goigoi LaMarr, they were a married couple. And among assassins being married was rare let alone to each other, the jackals were well known in underworld for their savagery and enjoyment of their jobs; they would often toy with their targets before killing them. Ronin also knew that they were more than capable of taking on Ceartais causing her to mumble " _Merde."_

000

The next day came and inside the convenience store simply known as 'Outlander's' Alice Kirabito was sat on the counter slurping on a carrot juice slushie while explaining her relationship troubles to the proprietor of the store; her friend, Jasiri. "So let me get this straight, Andi got dumped by her boyfriend and you feel guilty over it?" Jasiri asked.

"Of course I feel guilty about it, I broke up a couple, I'm a home wrecker." Alice griped.

"Andi knew what she was doing when she got into bed with you, this is on her not you." Jasiri pointed out.

"But I knew she was in a relationship and I still went through with it." Alice criticized herself.

"So? Anyway, I thought you said her boyfriend was an asshole." Jasiri replied.

"That's what I used to think, turns out he's a really nice guy." Alice admitted while her became droopy.

"You shouldn't feel bad about what happened, Alice." A kind voice said, Alice and Jasiri looked to see Kion stocking up some heavy cases of beer meant for large mammals, the Lion had been persuaded to help with a heavy delivery by his charming girlfriend "My grandpa Mufasa always used to say things happen for a reason, maybe you sleeping with Andi was just meant to be."

"That's nice of you to say Kion but honestly I feel like fate has a crap sense of humour." Alice gave a sad smile.

Kodi set down the case of beer before walking over to the dejected bunny sat on the counter "Let me tell you a little something about fate; do you know where I met Jasiri? Right out there in that parking lot." The lion pointed outside "I just had a huge fight with my parents, I was angry as hell and crying my eyes out…and then Jasiri appeared."

"Awww." Alice cooed, watching Kion look at Jasiri lovingly.

"At the time I felt like my life was falling apart but now I look back on it and realise that was the moment things in my life changed for the better." Kion confided "So you may feel terrible right now but it'll get better and who knows, maybe you'll look back on that night in a few months and see it as the first night you spent with your girlfriend."

Alice chuckled at the corniness of Kion's words but also found a lot of comfort, instinctively she stood up on the counter and hugged the big gentle lion by his mane "Thanks Kion."

"Anytime." Kion smiled, hugging back with just one paw. The sudden sound of Kion's phone ringing ruined the moment, he pulled back and got his phone and saw a number he didn't recognise, he pressed answer on the screen and put the phone to his ear "Hello?"

" **Kion, meet me out back by the dumpsters."** The caller then hung up suddenly, but Kion knew who it was; it was Ray.

"I just got to call work back." Kion made an excuse to Jasiri and Alice before walking into the back. Thirty seconds later Kion emerged out of the staff entrance and saw Ray dressed in civilian attire and leaning against a dumpster.

"Sorry to meet like this but it's urgent." Ray apologised.

"It's fine," Kion accepted, looking around to make sure no one is about "what's the problem?"

"I got intel from a reliable source that there has been a contract put on Team Ceartais." Ray cut to the chase.

"Contract?" Kion sounded, unsure of the terminology.

Ray saw the teen's confusion and clarified "Someone is hiring assassins to kill Bullet and Andraste while capturing everyone else alive."

Kion's mouth went dry as he garbled "What?! Why? Who would do this?"

"The very mammals that turned you into 'Roar'." Ray answered, his own anger showing "Phelps Arms."

"But why capture some of us and kill Bullet and Andraste?" Kion asked in a confused manner, his mind going straight to thoughts of his friends.

"Likely to harness the powers the 'gifted' members of the team while bumping off an archer and a gunslinger." Ray relayed "I've got a feeling Phelps arms are getting desperate as well."

"Why?" Kion asked, noting Ray's worried expression.

"The Drowned have been targeting Phelps Arms storage facilities and shipments and a major Phelps Arms shareholder's son was almost kidnapped a couple of days at Zootopia School for The Blind." Ray informed "I don't know what Phelps Arms did but The Drowned have really got it out for them."

"So what should we do about the contract?" Kion fretted.

"Just watch out for each other. Besides I've got it on good authority that you've got a guardian angel looking out for you guys." Ray let out a rare smile.

"Guardian angel?" Kion repeated.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Ray waved off.

"I'll tell the team right away." Kion said, wondering if he should could call for an emergency meeting at the bunker.

"There's one more thing," Ray spoke, his tone become bluer "I got a solid lead on Kiara."

"Kiara!?" Kion exclaimed, rushing over to Ray and putting his paws on the white tiger's shoulders "Is she ok? Have you seen her?"

"We got some CCTV of her last night in Sherwood and-" Ray began to explain.

"She's in Sherwood? That's so close, I'll gather the team and we'll search right now." Kion spoke at high speed.

"Kion she's with The Drowned!" Ray interrupted loudly.

"What?...No, no, no." Kion refused in a quiet yet frightened voice.

"I didn't want to believe it either but I saw the CCTV footage, she was wearing their symbol, they've got her." Ray told with a pained expression.

"But how?" Kion asked, feeling more worried than ever for his big sister's welfare.

"I don't know, but Fuli's warped her mind just like all the other Drowned cultists." Ray figured "We've found traces of drugs often used in brainwashing in the blood of captured Drowned members, maybe they've done the same thing to Kiara."

Kion took a deep breath before saying "Then our job just got made easier, we find where The Drowned are hold up and we find Kiara."

"My thoughts exactly." Ray agreed "Listen, I've got to get going but if I get any more updates I'll contact you."

"Right. Thank you, Ray." Kion said sincerely.

"We'll find her Kion, I promise." Ray said before turning away and walking out of the alley.

Kion went back into the store and was in the middle of texting a group message about meeting at the bunker as soon as possible but as he entered out of the staff area and into the main part of the store he heard a familiar voice ask "And a pack of cigarettes please?"

Kion's vision snapped up and he saw his mother at the counter, dressed in her ZPD uniform and wearing a tired expression. Jasiri went to grab a deck of cigarettes from behind her and by instinct Kion said loudly "Don't sell those to her, she'll have gum instead."

Jasiri stopped in mid action and gave a "Huh?" noise, before looking at Nala and reading her nametag ' ' and making the connection.

Nala turned and gasped as she saw her son "Kion.", Kion could also see Clawhauser standing near the gossip magazines slurping on a slushie, as soon as he saw Kion he froze and his eyes darted between the mother and son.

Kion wanted to say something, like 'I've missed you' or 'How are you?' but his anger was still there, he found himself turning on his heel and trying to flee to the staff only area but Jasiri raced ahead and blocked his way "Nuh-uh, no running away kitten, you said you wanted to talk to your mom, so talk to her." Jasiri said assertively, crossing her arms across her chest.

Alice watched this spectacle from the counter and echoed "Things happen for reason Kion, remember?"

Kion let out a huff before walking back towards to his jittery looking mother, Jasiri knew this conversation was going to be awkward and rallied the spectators "Ok Alice, let's leave these two to talk," walking towards the exit and grabbing Clawhauser by the arm and leading him outside "you too officer."

"Uh Nala, I'll be in the cruiser." Clawhauser reacted as he was dragged outside by the spotted hyena.

Once Jasiri had guided Alice and Clawhauser out onto the parking lot and out of sight Kion decided to open the conversation but with a judging tone "You're smoking again?"

"Yeah," Nala confessed, sounding ashamed "I've been under a lot of stress lately."

Kion felt a pang of guilt, his mom looked so worn out, he knew that most cops in the city were working crazy shifts lately. Add not seeing Simba as much and not having her cubs around it was no wonder that she was stressed. He still felt that burning sensation of anger in his gut but his will to be kind outmatched his rage, he stepped forward and hugged his Mom, the lioness was caught off guard by this act was even more surprised by the words "I've missed you, Mom."

Nala felt her body start to shake before she burst into tears and hugged her cub back "I'm sorry, Kion, I'm so sorry." She wept.

"It's ok, it's ok." Kion soothed, feeling teary eyed himself.

"Y-you were right, you were right about Kiara." Nala cried.

Kion flinched at the mention of his sister, he couldn't bring himself to tell Nala about the new revelations, he just repeated Ray's vow "We'll find her Mom, I promise."

Nala pulled back from the hug wiped away some of her tears with her sleeve before saying "I know I've got a long way to go before you fully forgive me but I just want you to know that I love you."

Nala was right, Kion had not forgiven her completely but he couldn't deny the fact that he loved his mother "I love you too, Mom."

Nala smiled upon hearing those words but didn't want to push her luck, instead she commented "I heard that pretty Hyena call you kitten? Are you two?"

"Yes, she's my girlfriend. Her name's Jasiri." Kion answered with a smile.

"She seems nice, I'm guessing you've been staying with her?" Nala assumed.

"We started off as roommates but you know…" Kion trailed off.

"If it's ok, is it all right if I meet her? You know, properly?" Nala asked, skittishly.

"Sure, I'll introduce you." Kion smiled, putting an arm around Nala and walking towards the exit. The wounds of the feud were not fully healed but at long last there were baby steps towards a recovery.

000

Blake Gusteau was having a terrible evening, he had arrived at the family restaurant for his shift as normal and was happily going about his work until 8pm exactly when a patron under the pseudonym; V. Price waltzed in through the rodent entrance. V. Price was in fact Padraic Rattigan, as soon Blake saw his estranged father he marched over to him and demanded that he'd leave however Blake's uncle and Maître D of Gusteaus; Emile suggested diplomacy and said that Rattigan had booked a table and would be served like any other customer. Blake could see why his uncle wanted to take this route, to show that they were unafraid of the gangster but also not increase the tensions of this family feud. Blake agreed but on the condition that he would be the personal waiter for Rattigan and his party so the other staff would not be harassed.

Rattigan sat a small secluded table in the corner restaurants usually reserved for celebs wanting to keep a low profile, joining him was his capo Fidget and two other high ranking enforcers, all of them ordering the most extravagant meals and most expensive drinks. The four gangsters had just finished their main courses and were ready for their deserts, Blake walked over to the pass and watched as his uncle Remy checked each slice of decadent chocolate torte for quality and commented "I hope you've been spitting in their food."

Remy glared at his much taller nephew and said sternly "I would never disrespect food in such a way, every dish that leaves my kitchen must be perfect."

"Can't you make an exception this one time?" Blake bargained.

"No." Remy answered bluntly.

"Why is he here anyway?" Blake groused.

"To get under your skin of course, and from the looks of it he's succeeded." Remy smirked, as he poured a spot of cream onto each slice of torte.

"Yeah, the old bastard sure knows how to push my buttons," Blake conceded "but why are you and Emile so calm about this?"

"Because we're not afraid of him. Rattigan is a coward who ran away when things got too tough and when things get tough again he'll hop on a plane and fly away." Remy smiled, sounding sure of himself "Now serve them their desserts."

Blake couldn't help but admire his uncle's optimism, he let out a chuckle before replying "Yes, chef." Then put the desserts on a tray and walked over to the table where Rattigan and his cronies were in mid conversation

"So we're clear on your roles, gentlemammals?" Rattigan asked in a relaxed voiced, not even acknowledging Blake as he began to lay out the desserts.

"Yeah, boss. We got it." Fidget answered with a nod.

"Please repeat it for me, I know forgetful you can be." Rattigan said condescendingly.

"The shipment arrives by air drop into Sahara Square, we load the merchandise onto three separate trucks and drive them to the three different rendezvous points." Fidget recalled, used to his boss belittling him.

"And what truck will you be charge of, my winged wonder?" Rattigan asked smarmily.

"The Morrigan truck." Fidget answered with his disgusting yellow toothed grin.

"Good boy." Rattigan said, sounding satisfied. The mob boss began to tuck into his dessert not really caring that Blake had overheard him, the way Rattigan figured it if Blake was going to snitch on his old he would've done it as soon as he walked into the restaurant but little did he know that Blake liked to play the long game.

000

Kion called a meeting at the Bunker shortly after 5pm, within an hour all Ceartais members had assembled and were told the disturbing news about Kiara and The Drowned and also about the contract Phelps Arms had put on them. The younger team members were worried about this but not Luna and Olivia, mammals had been trying to kill them for a long time and had never succeeded, when they first started their careers in vigilantism the various crime families of Zootopia had sent a multitude of hitmammals after them and none had ever came close to killing them.

That night it was Luna and Olivia's turn to patrol the city, it hadn't been a very busy night, a couple of muggers and a few idiots trying to break into a bank in Savanah central. It was just after 2am when Spitfire decided to call it a night and head home, Andraste agreed and split off from the mech to head back to her parent's place where she was still staying, her penthouse would be fully repaired by next week but she still wasn't sure if she wanted to return, being around her family was helping her cope at the moment, just sitting with them and watching TV helped stave off thoughts of Aleks…and Alice.

As the vixen made her way across the rooftops of Savannah Central she couldn't help but think of the last time she wore her uniform, the time she fully submitted to Andraste in hopes of bringing down Alice but instead everything went to hell and Luna awoke in a nightmare. "I hate her." She said to herself every time she thought of Ronin and her real life persona Alice, it was almost like the archer was reminding herself that she despised the rabbit and was not attracted to her, even though she found herself thinking more and more about how captivating the bunny's body was.

Suddenly a cry of "HELP!" dragged Andraste from her thoughts, the archer focused her hearing and heard "OH GOD, HELP US!" it wasn't far, less than a block away. Andraste sprung into action and used her grapple arrows to swing across to the bulding across the street, she landed on a window ledge and ran in the direction of the ongoing screams, soon enough she was on a fire escape above an alley where a female jackal was knelt beside a prone male jackal, who was laying a pool of blood. Andraste descended quickly with a grapple arrow and ran straight for the couple "What happened?" she asked, her voice urgent yet professional, much like the voice she used at work.

"My husband's been stabbed!" The female Jackal bawled hysterically, her eyes streaming with tears and her paws covered in her spouse's blood.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get him stabilized while you dial 911, ok?" Andraste ordered, crouching down beside the wounded male Jackal, she went to turn him over but felt a sharp pain coursing through her thigh. Andraste looked at her leg and saw a hypo syringe stabbed into her leg with the male Jackal's thumb on the plunger, before she could react all the fluid had gone into her leg, Andraste scrambled to her feet and growled "What did you inject me with?" pulling the syringe out of her leg.

The two Jackals grinned menacingly at Andraste, the female rose to her feet first and wiped away her crocodile tears, Reirei LaMarr looked at the archer with disappointment and sassed "I can't believe you fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book."

The male, Goigoi sniggered "These hero types can't help themselves." Wiping some of the fake blood off his paws onto his trousers.

Andraste quickly aimed a tazer arrow at the pair and demanded "What was in that syringe?"

"Oh just a little tonic to make you less aggressive." Reirei answered, unfazed by the arrow pointed at her.

Andrate's paws began to rattle as did the rest of her body, she dropped her bow as she started to shake uncontrollably "What did'th…." Her voice began to slur as her tongue became numb, soon enough she couldn't speak.

"You like it? It's Reirei's own recipe, it makes this business a lot smoother." Goigoi taunted.

Andraste collapsed to the ground as the shakes started to ease and were replaced with stillness, she couldn't feel her body, she could barely move, with all her strength she slowly reached to her belt to press her SOS button but Reirei saw this and grabbed the vixen's wrist using the most minimal amount of strength and mockingly scolded "Naughty, naughty." While wagging her other finger.

Andraste began to feel her heart fill with fear as the two Jackals conversed over her paralysed body "So darling, how are we going to do this?" Goigoi enquired.

"Death by a thousand cuts?" Reirei suggested, deliberately brandishing a hunting knife for Andraste to see.

"We did death by a thousand cuts last time. How about the jigsaw game?" Goigoi offered, leaving Andraste in even more terror and wondering what on earth a jigsaw game was.

"Meh, they always bleed out before cut off everything." Reirei commented, she then snapped her fingers and said brightly "I know what we haven't done in a while, an old fashion beating to death."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a great stress reliever." Goigoi smiled down at Andraste, cracking his knuckles.

"Why don't you start darling? I don't want to get blood on my rings." Reirei said, as she began to slide the very expensive diamond rings off her fingers.

"With pleasure." Goigoi replied before delivering a swift but powerful kick to Andraste's abdomen, the vixen felt the pain ripple through her but she couldn't scream, her body was like a ragdoll and right now she was at the mercy of two demented mammals.

Goigoi grabbed Andraste by the neck, causing her hat to fall off before landing a punch on the fox's beautiful face, then another one and another, before long Andraste's face was a bloody mess. Andraste was beyond terrified, she thought if she was ever going to die while being a hero it would something grander than this; being poisoned then beaten to death. She found solace in thought of her family, her friends, her lost love Aleks and strangely enough Alice, Andraste was preparing for the end and was determined to think of happier times than the pain she was going through right now.

Reirei had finished putting away her rings and told her husband "Leave some for- UGH!" Reirei fell to the concrete with a sudden thud, Goigoi stopped beating on Andraste and spun around to see a shuriken sticking out of the base of Reirei's spine "I-I can't feel my legs!" she panicked.

GoiGoi shot to his feet and got out a pistol from his jacket, prepared to engage this mystery attacker when from the fire escape a above a shadow dropped and with one well timed slash Goigoi's torso was severed from the rest of his body, there was a thunderous cry from Jackal's mouth and then nothing, the torso landed in front of his incapacitated wife who screamed at the top of her lungs "GOIGOI! OH GOD, GOIGOI!"

Andraste's swollen amber eyes could only make out a blurry figure approaching the helpless Reirei but as soon as she heard the voice of her saviour she actually felt like crying from a joy she couldn't comprehend. "An assassin should always watch their back." Ronin said coldly to Reirei.

"Ronin!? You bitch! You killed him! You killed my Goigoi!" Rei snapped and snarled as she tried to drag herself over to the bunny in some vain attempt of a counter attack.

Ronin knelt next to the severed bottom half of Goigoi and retrieved a small bag zip pack from his pocket, she opened it up and saw three full syringes inside "He still carries the antidote in his back pocket, predictable." Ronin said.

"You fucking skank! You killed him to steal our contract!?" Reirei wailed as she still tried to crawl over to Ronin.

"No, I killed him and I'm going to kill you because I owe a debt to that vixen." Ronin corrected before taking a small step towards Reirei and plunging her katana through her skull.

Andraste could no longer keep her eyes open, she hurt too much, she had survived by sheer dumb luck but as she closed her eyes she felt safe, even if it was with the rabbit she hated the most.

The vixen awoke an hour later on a camp bed in a very small room that was dimly lit, Her face was sore beyond belief she put a paw to her muzzle and felt that it was swollen and that most of the cuts had scabbed over, she wasn't wearing her hat or her mask, she could also smell the distinct scent of antiseptic. Luna tried to move the rest of her body and was relieved to find that she was no longer paralysed, she shuffled onto her side and could see Alice, without her mask and goggles on, packing away a first aid kit "Alice?" Luna croaked.

Alice turned with a start and breathed a sigh of relief "Oh good, you're awake.

"Where are we?" Luna asked while wincing in pain, it hurt to talk. Upon closer inspection of the room, she could see that they were actually in a shipping container, with a mini fridge, a TV, a laptop and oddly enough a vending machine with guns and ammo in.

"A rentable safe house, we're still in Savannah central." Alice answered "I brought you hear to patch you up…um sorry to ask, but who am I talking to?"

"It's me Luna." She clarified, seeing the awkwardness in the doe's golden eyes as she grabbed her hat off a small side table and put it on.

"Oh." Alice reacted, rising from the chair she was sat in "I best go then."

"You're leaving?" Luna asked in hazy voice.

"Don't worry, no one can enter if someone's already inside, rest up and when you feel better head home." Alice told, avoiding eye contact with the archer and heading for the large metal doors.

Luna saw Alice's paw reach for the door when by impulse she pleaded "Don't."

Alice's paw froze before forcing herself at vixen whose life she had ruined "Luna…" was all could she say.

"I-I don't want to be alone," Luna found herself saying "can you stay with me, while I sleep?"

Alice looked at the beaten face of Luna and knew that she should leave, that if she stayed it would only lead to more heartache for both of them and yet she walked over to the camp bed and hopped on, she shuffled backwards so she was sitting up against the side of the container. Alice reached up and took off Luna's hat and placed it on her own head before motioning for Luna to lay down, Luna did so instinctively rested her head on Alice's lap, they both knew that this feeling of comfort wouldn't last but right now it felt so right.

(AN/ So what did you guys think? Please please please review. Next time on SOC; Alice and Luna make a deal, Basil and Blake form an alliance, Aleks get a new mission and the Team prepare for the charity auction. Please review and c ya soon.)


	32. The Contract

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox with another update of SOC on a Monday, the new official day for updates, this is due to my current studies and work commitments. So thanks are in order for all the lovely people who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. And would not be able to put this work out every week without the help of the amazing SOC development team who help me, create masterful art and beta read my work, thank you team, i really couldn't do it without you. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 31- The contract**

Alice was the type that could sleep anywhere, anytime and in the most awkward of positions, so she had no trouble drifting off to sleep while propped up against the hard metal of the shipping container/safe house. The white furred lapin had fallen asleep while gazing down at Luna, who was already sound asleep, trying not to think about how messed up this situation was, she put it to the back of her mind and decided to focus on the bloodied yet beautiful face of the archer.

A few hours passed and Alice was woken by the oddest of touches; she felt a tickling under her nose, she scratched her small pink nose on reflex and put her paw back down, but then the tickle came again causing Alice to open her eyes. She awoke to see the battered and swollen face of Luna grinning at her and holding her tail to Alice's face. The rabbit wasn't expecting the over friendly wake-up call and her tone reflected this confusion "Luna?"

"Morning sexy." The vixen smouldered.

Alice looked into the archer's amber eyes and could see no sign of hesitation or uneasiness, add that to her words and the tail tickle, Alice realised whom she was talking to. "Andi." Alice gave a tired sigh.

"Aww, you look so cute when you're sleepy."Andraste cooed, shuffling closer to the bunny.

Alice couldn't hide her irritation as she said "Can you not sit so close?"

"Oh I don't plan on sitting." Andraste flirted, her paws reaching up to unlace her bodice.

"Whoa, stop! No!" Alice halted, sounding pissed off.

"What's the problem?"Andraste huff.

"You know very well what the problem is." Alice sniped.

Andraste was quiet for a moment, acting clueless before joking "Have I got morning breath?"

Alice let out a grunt of annoyance before quickly scooting around Andraste and hopping off the bed, when she landed she hissed "You tricked me."

"Hmm?" Andraste sounded, feigning innocence.

"You tricked me into having sex with you!" Alice accused.

"I remember a lot of things about that night but no tricking." Andraste smiled impishly.

"You said that the real you wanted to sleep with me! You lied!" Alice snapped.

"I didn't lie about that, I did want to sleep with you and I still do." Andraste replied with a wink.

"What about Luna?!" Alice asked in a frustrated voice.

"What about her?" Andraste shrugged.

"What we did…what I did." Alice corrected herself "It ruined Luna's life."

"So? Don't tell me you're worried about that mommy's girl?" Andraste scoffed.

"Of course I am, she's heartbroken and so is Rojek, I caused all of this and you didn't stop me." Alice said bitterly.

"Listen we both know we enjoyed that night and anyway Luna's better off without that boy scout." Andraste brushed off.

"How can you say that? Don't you feel bad at all for what we did? We broke up two mammals in love." Alice stressed.

"So let me get this straight; you're ok with killing mammals but breaking them up is too far?"Andraste chuckled darkly.

"This is different!" Alice yelled.

"I don't know what you're getting so worked up about; Luna is attracted to you anyway."Andraste shrugged, standing up from the bed.

That information hit Alice with a wave of confusion so she reacted with instant denial "No she isn't, she hates me!"

"Sure she hates you a little, but I know what she thinks about and she had you on her mind ever since you kissed her in the rainforest district." Andraste revealed.

"You're lying." Alice replied, refusing to believe the darker side of the vixen. She had enough of speaking to Andraste and stated "I'm leaving." Before turning on her heel and heading for the exit of the rentable safe house.

Alice grabbed her sheathed katana and was about to press the mag lock release when she heard a voice say "Alice?"

The white furred rabbit knew that the words had come from the vixen's mouth but the tone was softer, more confused and not laced with seduction. Alice lowered her paw, turned around and saw the puzzled face of Luna Wilde and greeted in an awkward voice " _B-bonjour_ Luna."

"Why am I standing up?" Luna asked out loud before looking down at herself "Why is my bodice half tied?"

"I didn't do anything I swear!" Alice panicked "It was Andi; she got a little flirty but I knew you wouldn't want anything to happen so I was about to leave."

Luna looked into Alice's golden eyes and saw no trace of a lie "…relax, I believe you." Luna eased, before lacing up her bodice again.

"Right." Alice breathed a sigh of relief before edging back towards the door "So I'm going to get out of your fur."

"Please wait." Luna asked trying to be civil, wincing in pain while she spoke, her face still hurt from her beating last night but she needed to know some things "We need to talk."

"Um, is that wise?" Alice fretted.

"Don't worry I'm not going to scream at you, I just need to know some things." Luna spoke calmly.

"R-right." Alice responded, resting her sword by the door again.

Luna composed herself before asking "So who were those jackals who attacked me?"

"Reirei and Goigoi LeMarr, they're two of the most feared assassins in the world, or were." Alice explained "I dumped their bodies in a sewer, it'll be weeks before they're found."

"So Ray's intel was right…I was stupid for brushing it off." Luna criticised herself.

"I'm just glad Ray got the news to you before something bad happened." Alice commented.

"You gave Ray the intel? Why?" Luna questioned "Actually, why were you even in that alley last night?"

"…To make sure you didn't get hurt." Alice confessed before rambling "I know I have no right to interfere with your life, especially after what I did but if something happened to you I-I…"

Luna stopped Alice's stammering by placing a paw on the bunny's shoulder and saying "Thank you Alice, you saved my life."

Alice could feel her cheeks heating up and replied "It's, uh, no problem, I mean you're welcome."

Luna realised she was smiling and forced herself to frown before saying "Don't get the wrong idea, I still despise you."

"Of course." Alice accepted, she wasn't hopeful anyway.

"So were they the only hitmammals after Ceartais?" Luna got back on point.

"Those were the only ones that were traced coming into the city, but with the $10 million bounty on you and your friends, I'd be surprised if they were going to be the last." Alice figured.

"So every time Ceartais heads out into the city we're sitting ducks." Luna worried out load, not concerned for herself but for her baby sister.

"I'll try and keep you up to date with anything I learn but there's not really much I c-…Wait I've got it!" Alice realised.

"What?" Luna queried

"I know a way to scare the assassins off; you need to hire me to protect Ceartais." Alice proposed.

"Wait, what? How will hiring you help?" Luna asked, flummoxed by the idea.

"Look I don't mean to brag, but I'm a big deal in the underworld, if the assassins learn that I've got a protection contract on Ceartais, they'll think twice before coming after you." Alice explained.

"How feared are you?" Luna asked, sounding dubious.

"Look I know I'm small but I'm considered one of the top five assassins on the planet…make that top three I killed two of them last night." Alice told with no hint of exaggeration.

"Ok so how do we do this? How much do you charge? We talking thousands or millions?" Luna quizzed, money was no object for the young millionaire.

"One dollar." Alice responded with a straight face.

"A dollar? You're joking, right?" Luna replied.

"Consider it the 'I'm sorry I ruined your life and I'm trying to make amends' rate." Alice answered, looking down at her feet.

Luna gazed at the bunny's forlorn face and the annoying thought of 'She's beautiful' buzzed through her mind, she ignored as best she could before forcing "Fine, so I guess you're hired."

"Hang on, the assassins may ask for proof, we'll need to draw up a contract." Alice said, opening one of the pouches on her belt and pulling out a folded up piece of parchment.

"I thought you guys did all your contracts via phone calls and money transfers." Luna figured.

"True, 90% of our contracts are like that, but old school clients like to use a 'Blood contract' as a show of power." Alice elaborated, producing a fountain pen from the same pouch and began writing on the parchment after she laid it flat on the small table where Luna's bow lay, after thirty seconds she blew on the ink to dry it before reading aloud "Ahem 'I Ronin accept the contract to protect the group known as Ceartais from capture or death by any means necessary for an undisclosed sum until the threat to them has ended', sound good?"

"Sure, where do I sign?" Luna asked back.

"You really think mammals put their names on these things? It's called a blood contract for a reason." Alice replied, quickly grabbing one of her shuriken and nicking her thumb before putting it on the bottom left part of the parchment, after a few seconds she pulled back and there was a blotch of blood left behind.

Luna didn't voice any complaints, she just got out one of her daggers and mimicked Alice's action, once she pulled her thumb back from the parchment and her blood was soaking into the paper she mumbled to herself "I can't believe I just hired an assassin to watch my back."

000

Nick was slowly getting used to being mayor; the schedule of meetings, the faces around city hall and trips around the city for official business but no matter how much time passed Nick could not get accustomed to having a bodyguard and right now that annoyance was at the forefront of his mind.

Nick was in the male toilets of city hall, standing at a urinal and wanting to use the facilities but he couldn't go because he knew his bodyguard Ben was watching him from the door "Bart, will you give me some privacy?"

"Sorry sir but the bathroom is a public area and anyone could walk in and harm you." Ben justified, ignoring the fact that Nick was keeping up the tradition of deliberately never calling him by his real name. "With all The Drowned attacks lately it's too much of a risk."

"For god's sake, I want to pee but I can't go with you there, will you please wait outside?" Nick gave an irked response.

"…Fine I'll be right outside, shout if there's any trouble." Ben replied before exiting.

A minute later Nick emerged from the bathroom and sniped at his bodyguard "See Barret, I survived the perilous trip to the bathroom."

"I'm glad sir." Ben replied, unfazed by Nick's grumpiness. The two made their way into Nick's office and found the assistant mayor; Alana sat in one of guest chairs reading a file.

"Is that the file I sent you this morning?" Nick asked with hope, going over and flopping into his chair while Ben stood like a sentinel at the door.

"It is," Alana confirmed, closing the file "I've got to say it's ballsy but I like the idea."

"So you're with me on deputizing team Ceartais?" Nick smiled, wanting conformation.

"Of course I am, but good luck getting the city council to agree." The doe spoke her fears.

"It won't matter, I've been looking up the law and I don't need their backing, just me and a senior figure in the ZPD need to green light it." Nick assured.

"Good but we've got to be aware of a media backlash, some of the more right-wing networks will spin this against you." Alana warned.

"Let them spin the story all they want, as soon as Ceartais start saving lives they'll change their tunes." Nick said confidently "I just hope they agree to it."

"They will, they're good mammals who want to do the right thing." Alana smiled while leaning back in her chair.

"If all else fails and things get worse I could always grab my bow and deliver my own kind of justice."Nick grinned, spinning his chair to face his ZPD bow and quiver that he hung up on the wall to remind him of his SWAT days.

"I still can't believe you used a bow instead of a gun." Alana shook her head "Oh before I forget there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Shoot." Nick signalled.

"Well I was going over my schedule for next month and I'm supposed to go on a goodwill visit upstate to improve business links but I think you would like to go more than me." Alana explained.

"What makes you say that?" Nick wondered.

"Because it's Bunnyburrow you'll have to visit, isn't that Judy's hometown?" Alana asked.

"Yeah it is." Nick replied with a little surprise in his voice "What's this meeting all about?"

"Well it's an annual thing, usually the assistant mayor meets with the mayor of Bunnyburrow and just sign some papers for reduced trade taxes between the two counties but it coincides with an event called 'Carrot Days', the papers come and take some photos, you make a speech and that's that. But I figured you could bring your family and catch up with the in-laws." Alana explained.

Nick smiled at the prospect of visiting Bunnyburrow with Judy and the girls, they usually visited twice a year along with the Savages and Nick's parents but this year it had been hard to get away from work with The Wave causing havoc. "That sounds great, when is it?" Nick asked.

"It's a weekend thing, between the 15th to the 17th of September." Alana answered.

Nick let out a chuckle before adding "Even better, Robyn's birthday is on the 17th." Getting out his phone to text Judy, Jack and Skye the details.

000

You'd never know it, but Basil Dawson was a hopeless romantic, even in his early courtship of David he would strive to make romantic yet thoughtful gestures including flowers, taking him to an exhibition of his favourite artist and of course dancing. Even on this day, the twentieth anniversary of their marriage, Basil hadn't lost his touch in the romance department, the mouse had laid out a gourmet breakfast downstairs (Ordered in due to his lack of culinary skill), filled a vase full of blooming red roses and from the sound system a playlist of the couple's favourite songs was playing. David had loved every element of it but he had his own surprise in store and it linked back to the night that David proposed to Basil.

You see, David didn't propose in the conventual way; he had invited Basil to a Victorian themed murder mystery evening set at Lord's Manor wherein the lady of the house had been murdered. Basil thought the whole idea was preposterous seeing as he was so gifted with his skills of deduction and problem solving that he could solve the entire mystery in five minutes but little did he know this mystery had been concocted by David himself and all the actors and other guests were in on his plan. Basil was elated that this was proving a challenge, it actually took him 4 hours to get to the final clue, it was a puzzle box and within supposedly had the name of the murderer. But when Basil opened the box there was no name only a small note reading 'Basil Baker will you marry me?' Basil had turned around to see David on one knee holding up an engagement ring and the rest is history.

So for David's surprise for Basil, he had gotten exact replicas of the Victorian era costumes that they had worn at the murder mystery night, so Basil felt more than a tad embarrassed as he walked into precinct 1 dressed like he walked in from the 1880s with David linking onto his arm in similar attire. "You know you look handsome." David teased.

"Darling, it amazes me how you can be utterly romantic yet embarrass me in the same moment." Basil said, trying to maintain an air of confidence and failing.

"That was my objective." Dawson chuckled before kissing his flustered husband on the cheek.

Basil couldn't help but be charmed and begrudgingly admitted "I love you, you bloody fool."

"And I love you. Besides compared to your usual fashion choices this is an improvement." David taunted playfully.

Basil was about to respond when a familiar voice laughed "What in the world are you two wearing?"

The couple looked up to see Judy coming out of the bullpen after roll call "Morning Judy, this is just one of my little presents to Basil for our anniversary." David explained, not bothered by his odd-looking clothes.

"Happy anniversary guys, how many years have you clocked up?" Judy asked, grinning at the adorable couple.

"Twenty years." Basil couldn't help but smile.

"Oh my gosh, congratulations." Judy gushed before saying "You know, if you guys want to sneak out at lunchtime and go home I'll turn a blind eye."

"I think we'll take you up on that offer." David jumped at the chance, nudging Basil who now looked even more embarrassed.

A few minutes later the two mice had made it to the basement where both the CSI lab and the morgue were situated, but outside the secured entrance was a nervous looking mammal they had not expected to see. "Blake?" David said, both greeting and showing his confusion with one word.

Basil stiffened upon seeing the broad shouldered rat; he still couldn't erase the image of Rattigan when he saw the gentle bartender. Yet the forensic scientist pushed his delusions aside and smiled "Well this is surprise."

"Sorry to bother you at work, but can we talk? Like, in private?" Blake asked, his volume low.

"Um, of course, my office should suffice." David replied, befuddled by Blake's appearance. David used his key card to enter the secured area and led Blake to his office with Basil walking beside him, David's office wasn't actually the official mortician's office, which was designed for a mammal a lot bigger than a mouse,instead it was a rodent sized portacabin just outside the vacant official office.

"Can I get you a get a drink? Tea? Coffee?" David enquired.

"No, hopefully this won't take long." Blake answered, looking relieved that Basil had closed the door behind him.

"What's bothering you, Blake?" Basil asked, not wanting to tip toe around the issue.

"…I must be crazy for being here." Blake uttered to himself, nervously running his fingers against the thick scar across his cheek.

"Is there something the matter between Olivia and you?" David guessed, hoping he was wrong.

"No, me and Olivia are fine." Blake assured "It's just, I need to tell you two something."

Basil put a paw on Blake's back and ushered him over to the empty chair in front of David's desk "You have nothing to fear from us, just tell us what's bothering you." He assured.

"I have information about a massive drug shipment coming into the city, I heard it straight from Rattigan's mouth." Blake said, unable to look the Dawsons in the eye.

"How in the hell did you cross pass with that fiend?" David questioned, completely aghast.

Before Blake could answer Basil took a step forward, he finally connected the dots and wanted to voice his theory and he did so with speed and surety "Because Blake heard it last night at his family's restaurant, Rattigan is known for indulging in fine food and champagne and where better at a Michelin Star French restaurant, Rattigan is the type who needs his ego stroked and often treats his henchmen to extravagant outing now and then, so obviously they were discussing their next job. But how would Blake, the bartender, hear this? Easy, he waited on the professor and his party, but why? Most likely from a desire to protect the staff at the restaurant from the villain's unpredictable behaviour, and why does Blake do this? Because he has felt Rattigan's wrath before, most likely an occasion attributed to that scar on his face that he keeps touching while he's nervous, a physical and psychological scar most likely gained in childhood. And why would Rattigan cross paths with Blake in his childhood, well, look at Blake's physique and face and you'll see a similarity to the pox of a professor himself."

"Dear god…" David gawped at Blake, still stunned by Basil's skills after all these years.

"How could you know all that?" Blake uttered, stunned by the accuracy of Basil's words "That's impossible."

"Actually it's elementary my dear Blake." Basil stated "I assume by your closeness to your uncles and that scar on your cheek that you don't have a healthy relationship with your father."

"Please don't call him that, he may be the mammal who got my mom pregnant, but he has never been my father." Blake spoke.

Basil could sense the distain for the mob boss in the young rat's voice "You want punish him by snitching?" Basil quizzed.

"Damn right I do! I want to see that piece of shit rot in prison until he croaks." Blake blasted.

"Ok let's start from the top; what do you know?" David tried to steer the conversation.

"Right," Blake said, calming himself before continuing "they're going to be air dropping three massive shipments of drugs in Sahara square, then loading them onto three trucks and driving them to different locations."

"Do you get a date or time?" Basil asked with urgency.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that part of the conversation." Blake apologised.

"Don't worry, I can work with that info." Basil assured, the cogs in his head already turning.

"Blake why did you come to us? Why not actual police officers?" David asked, feeling concern for the rat.

"Everyone knows that Rattigan has eyes and ears everywhere, even among the cops, I came to you two because I know you guys are honest." Blake explained.

"He's right, there's only three cops in this building I trust 100%; Chief Wilde, Nala Priderock and Clawhauser." Basil agreed.

"So you can tell the chief, she can order her cops to bring down all of Rattigan's organisation." Blake said, sounding positive.

"Not so fast, we still don't know the time and date of this air drop, if we tell the chief now we'll risk the info being leaked back to Rattigan." Basil pointed out "I need to figure out the date and time before we can do anything, so for now we wait."

"Ok…" Blake accepted, sounding a bit scared "I know I've put a lot of pressure on you two but can I ask that Olivia doesn't find out about this? I don't want to make her worry."

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with us." Basil vowed.

"And we don't think any different of you, my boy, if anything you've shown your bravery this morning." David promised, patting the rat on the back.

Basil agreed with his husband's sentiments but did not voice them, he was too busy thinking, his mind working overtime on a strategy to bring down his nemesis "The game is afoot." He whispered to himself.

000

Aleks Rojek was feeling a sense of dread as he made his way up the staircase to Chief Wilde's office, even though he had been keeping things civil with his ex-girlfriend's mother he didn't want to spend any extended time with her, it would just be too awkward. And yet he had been summoned to her office so he had to obey, he knocked the door and waited for the inevitable "Come in." from Judy.

Aleks opened the door expecting to find Judy alone but instead saw Flight Lt. Ray Kamino and Corporal Zoe Nightfall of Camelot sat in the two chairs in front of the chief's desk, also stood beside Judy was the MCB regional director; Skye Savage. Aleks remained professional and hid his dislike for Ray before saying "You asked to see me, Chief."

"Yes, Rojek." Judy replied "I believe you've already met Flight Lt. Kamino and Corporal Nightfall on yesterday's raid."

"Yes, their assistance was welcome." Aleks said, being diplomatic and ignoring the flirtatious way Zoe was eyeing him.

"Let's cut the bullshit," Skye spoke up, her bluntness matched the serious look on her face "we've got a mission for you rookie."

"What kind of mission?" Aleks asked, sounding wary.

"Tagging along with us." Zoe beamed.

"What Nightfall means to say we need a skilled marksman who knows the layout of the city, after seeing your skill yesterday I can think of no better mammal." Ray persuaded.

"But I'm not a soldier, nor am I American or British, how can I help Camelot?" Aleks questioned.

"You'll officially be a special advisor attached to the unit." Judy clarified "With your help, Camelot can bring Fuli and The Drowned down."

"You expect me to work with him?" Aleks barbed, pointing at Ray "He's working with Ronin."

"I am well aware of Ray's contact with Ronin and I assure you the intel she provided will save lives." Judy responded.

"I decline, choose someone else." Aleks stood his ground, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Oh come on." Zoe pouted.

Skye shook her head before cutting in "Judy figured you'd say that, that's why I'm here."

"Go on." Aleks reacted, wondering why the head of the MCB in Zootopia was attending this meeting.

"Look I know you've been looking to transfer to MCB ever since what happened with Luna," Skye opened the difficult subject "I read your application and your record, it's impressive. But what would make convinced to make you part of the Bureau is if you joined the mission, do we understand each other?"

Aleks weighed up his options, he could either stick to his guns and try to get into the MCB the old fashioned way or he could work with Ray and get out of precinct 1 quicker, he ignored the Camelot members and looked directly at Judy and Skye and asked "When do I start?"

000

Ronin was dressed up for a night of killing, garbed in her mask, goggles and sneaking suit with various weapons hanging from the belts and holsters, but Ronin wasn't planning on killing anyone tonight, this was all for show.

The killer bunny was sat in her usual spot at the bar of underworld-friendly tavern; The Burst Pipe. She was supping on a beer, it was too early for whiskey yet, it was just after 11pm. Ronin glanced around and saw there were mammals than usual in the subterranean bar and she knew exactly why; the $10 million bounty on Ceartais, everyone wanted a piece of that prize pot ever since Ronin very publicly turned it down. It was common knowledge that Team Ceartais were most active after midnight, so all the mercs and hitmammals here were having some drinks for courage before going after the superheroes. That was good for Ronin, she wanted as many of them to see her wave her blood contract when the time came. She looked up at the clock above the bar 11.02pm and mumbled "Any minute now."

"You waiting on someone, hun?" Bo asked, the alluring ewe barmaid was taking a break from flirting with the silver furred wolf across the bar.

"You could say that." Ronin smiled, taking another swig of beer.

"I hope you remember the rules about 'Business' in my bar." Bo reminded.

"Oh I won't be the one raising a weapon, I promise." Ronin grinned.

Bo let out a small laugh then said "Well you seem to be back to your usual self, got over your broken heart yet?"

"…Not yet, but I'm trying to fix my mistake." Ronin confessed.

Bo was about to continue the conversation but a figure sat beside Ronin abruptly and let out a low snarl "Ronin."

Ronin didn't turn her head, she knew exactly who it was, it was the mammal she had been waiting for; Kit Cloudkicker. " _Bonsoir,_ Cloudkicker." She greeted nonchalantly.

"Reirei and Goigoi LaMarr went after Andraste last night." Cloudkicker told, his face twisted with rage.

"Is that so?" Ronin asked back with a smirk.

"They didn't report in, I've got a feeling you might know where they are." Cloudkicker accused.

"Hmmm let me think," Ronin pretended to be stumped "the last time I saw those Jackals was when I was dumping their corpses into a sewer."

"So you admit it!?" Cloudkicker barked, even Bo looked shocked that Ronin had managed to kill two of the deadliest assassins in the world and emerge unscathed.

"But of course, I have a protection contract for those super powered freaks." Ronin smiled darkly.

"What? No that can't be, you're lying." Cloudkicker refused.

Ronin replied by getting out the blood contract and holding it up for Cloudkicker to see.

"You stupid little rabbit, do you know what you've done? You've screwed up your relationship with my employer, he'll never hire you after this." Cloudkicker simmered.

"I'm not worried, after all I am one of the best assassins around, your employer is a businessman and respects that I'm an independent contractor as soon as things get dicey he'll hire me again. After all, he hired me to be his bodyguard at that charity auction coming up, it's almost like he doesn't trust your skills." Ronin insulted.

"You're making a mistake, there are hitmammals coming from all over for this contract, you've just put a target on your back." Cloudkicker tried to scare the bunny.

"Really? Let's see." Ronin grinned, before hopping up onto the bar and announcing in a loud voice "Ladies and Gentlemammals."

Everyone in the bar looked towards the well-respected bunny and waited for her to speak.

Ronin held up the blood contract she had made with Luna that morning and declared "In my paw is a protection contract for Team Ceartais, I have been hired to preserve the lives and prevent the capture of these individuals and I will use any means necessary to complete my goal. Now I look around and see some familiar faces and some strangers but I'm pretty sure you all know who I am and my standing in the underworld."

There was a chorus of worried murmurs and everyone in the bar started to look up nervously at Ronin, she then lowered her paw holding the contract and stated "I respect the rules of this Tavern, no harm shall come to you while you are here, but as soon as you step out that door and go after Ceartais I assure you that your deaths will not be quick or painless. So please spread the word and heed this advice; cease your contracts and leave Zootopia."

Ronin fell silent and within seconds mammals were walking up to Cloudkicker telling him that they quit. The rabbit's plan had worked perfectly, sure there would still be some chancers but she had thinned the ranks, she had fewer enemies to contend with now. Ronin then paid for her drinks before hastily leaving the bar.

It only took twenty minutes for Ronin to reach her apartment, she climbed through her unlocked bedroom window as usual before getting changed out of her sneaking suit and into the oversized T shirt she used as sleepwear. It wasn't even midnight yet and Alice was in the mood for some anime, she had just started up her smart TV and was about to select the crunchyroll app when a knock came at her front door.

It was too late for Jasiri to be dropping by so Alice automatically went on guard cautiously going over to her umbrella stand and grabbing the spare pistol she kept in there and flicked the safety off, she was too short to look through the peephole so she asked "Who is it?"

"It's me." A strained voice replied that made Alice's golden eyes go wide.

Alice put the safety back on the pistol and dropped it back in the umbrella stand before unlocking the door and opening it. There stood in a casual pair of jeans and a dark green sweater was Luna Wilde, Alice was positive this wasn't Andi, the body language, the tone of voice and most importantly the eyes all showed the vulnerable surgeon and not her risk-taking dark side. "Luna? What are you doing here?" Alice asked, unable to hide her uneasiness.

"Can I come in?" Luna asked, she looked just as jittery as Alice at the moment, a lot different than her blunt nature evident that morning.

"...Ok." Alice replied in a cautious voice, stepping aside so Luna could enter before closing the door "Did something happen? Is your team safe?"

"They're fine." Luna replied before taking a breath and saying "I need to talk to you about some stuff."

"Look if you just come to yell at me, get it over with." Alice said, preparing for a verbal barrage.

"No…I mean, yes I'm still angry at you but…but…" Luna struggled "Damn it, why is this so hard!?"

Alice didn't know how to react to this situation, she wanted to reach out and comfort Luna but she was afraid that the Vixen would explode with anger if she did. "Why are you here, Luna?" Alice asked, wanting this stressful situation to end quickly.

"When you first met me, when you first kissed me, that wasn't Andi. You know that, right?" Luna asked out of the blue.

"I figured that, yeah." Alice answered, remembering the sweet taste of Luna's lips.

"Why were you attracted to me?" Luna demanded to know.

"Where is this coming from?" Alice asked back, flustered by the question.

"Please I need to know." Luna pleaded.

"…It wasn't just your looks, even though you're the most beautiful mammal I've ever laid my eyes on." Alice revealed honestly, too bashful to look Luna in the eye "But there was something else; I could tell you were like me, tainted by the dark, you've been through pain and the crazy things we do at night helps us cope…I looked at you and I saw a kindred spirit."

Luna pulled on her short ears before groaning at Alice "Why the hell did you have to kiss me?"

"Honestly, I was being flirtatious and I've always been a romantic." Alice answered, not realising the question was rhetorical.

"No that's not what I meant." Luna groused "I mean ever since that kiss, you've been in my head."

"What?" Alice gasped.

"I'll be at work, on my way to see my patients and then boom you flicker through my mind, or I'll be driving home and an image of your stupid cute face pops into my head or I'll be in the shower and I'll picture you naked and I…" Luna stopped her rant before she revealed something way too embarrassing.

Alice wasn't even bothered that the vulpine had used the C word, all the other info was overloading Alice's stressed mind and she couldn't help but asked in a perplexed manner "Are you attracted to me?"

"Yes." Luna admitted to both Alice and herself.

"But…" Alice said but had no words, she was speechless.

"My head is so messed up right now, one second I hate you and the next second I'm thinking about holding you close…it's driving me crazy." Luna seethed, holding onto her long and fluffy tail for comfort. "I've never liked a girl before, I've never liked a mammal who wasn't a fox before and then you show up and…" Luna couldn't finish her sentence, she just sighed, although when she saw Alice's face she was surprised to see tears.

Alice went over to the front door and opened it "I think you should leave." She sniffed, her golden eyes crying.

"Alice?" Luna voiced

"I've been torturing myself over what I did and now you come to my home and tell me this! This isn't fair on either of us Luna, I think you should go before I do something foolish." Alice cried, trying to seem strong but her tears destroyed that façade.

Luna was on the verge of tears herself, she knew whatever she did next it would make things worse but yet only one of the options was calling out to her. She stepped over to Alice, knelt down in front of her so that she was eye level with bunny whom was looking away from her. "Alice, look at me." Luna willed.

Alice reluctantly turned to face Luna "Luna please…" Alice whispered, it was taking all her willpower not to kiss the vixen.

"Do you really want me to leave?" Luna asked, gently stroking Alice's cheek and wiping away a tear with her thumb.

Alice made her choice and shut the door "No." she breathed, before leaning in and kissing Luna softly.

Luna pulled the bunny closer and kissed Alice back, focusing on the feel and the taste of her lips. Both of them knew that this path they were taking would lead to heartache but right now it didn't matter, right now all that mattered was what they felt in their hearts.

(AN/ So what do you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review next time on SOC; Alice and Luna try and figure out their relationship, the 3 youngest members of the team run into a laughable foe and an old rivalry reignites. Please review and c ya soon...)


	33. Choices

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of SOC. As always a massive thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. Also A massive thank you to the SOC development team who helped create this chapter and Beta'd it. And I'd also like to make a shout out to my friend Ziegelzeig who does a lot for the SOC team and without him we wouldn't have the awesome Alice Kirabito AKA Ronin. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 32- Choices.**

Luna was feeling relaxed for the first time since the morning she last woke up in Alice's apartment. It was just after 8am and the vixen was all snug under the covers with the beautiful bunny. Luna had woken first and was simply staring at the slumbering Alice, who was snuggled up close to vulpine with her head resting on Luna's chest. It struck Luna that Alice looked so sweet and innocent while she slept, nothing like her sword wielding alter ego, but that of course wasn't the real Alice, the real Alice was a messy little nerd who just radiated cuteness.

Even after last night, when Luna came clean about her mixed feelings for the lapin, Alice didn't force the situation, the two just kissed and cuddled before making their way to the bedroom and falling asleep together, neither of them wanted to go further, at least not at that point.

As Luna continued to watch Alice sleep, she noticed that Alice's oversized t shirt had rolled down her shoulder revealing a small but thick scar, Luna couldn't help but trace her index finger across the old wound. Luna didn't know why she was so fascinated with scars but whenever she saw one she was drawn to them and Alice's body was an enchanting canvas of scars, burns and bullet wounds, the surgeon knew this was a factor in her attraction to the assassin but it wasn't the main draw, Luna wasn't swayed by scars or the dangerous lifestyle of Ronin, she was pulled in by Alice herself and she didn't know why.

The soft touch of Luna's finger upon the scar on her shoulder stirred Alice, through sleepy golden eyes she looked at Luna and gave a smiled before yawning "Good morning."

"Morning." Luna replied, smiling softly before kissing the bunny on her pink nose.

Alice looked at where Luna's hand was and giggled "Your sister gave me that scar."

"Really?" Luna scoffed.

"No joke, she took one of my own shuriken and stabbed it straight through my shoulder." Alice told, yawning towards the end of the sentence and burrowing her face into the fur of Luna's neck.

"Comfortable?" Luna enquired, putting her paw on the small of Alice's back and holding her close.

"Can we stay just like this all day?" Alice asked playfully.

"I'd love to, but I've got a whole surgical list starting at 1pm." Luna answered.

"Oh well," Alice accepted, knowing her wish was unlikely to come true "at least I get to be close to you 'til then."

Luna looked at the content bunny nuzzling up to her and lowly chuckled "Why are you so damn cute?"

"You know that cute is a risky word around rabbits, no?" Alice asked, feigning hurt.

"Meh, I'm from a family that is mostly rabbit, I should be considered an honouree rabbit." Luna jested.

"Your mother doesn't count." Alice bantered, nudging Luna.

"Then what about my eight hundred plus rabbit relatives? I've got aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and so on." Luna poked.

"Eight hundred? _Merde._ " Alice laughed.

"But you know I'm not doing anything tonight, we could meet up, you know, if you wanted to." Luna invited, sounding a little shy.

"I'd love too but I've got to be Ronin tonight, I have to make sure no more assassins are gunning for you and your friends." Alice answered, feeling defensive of the vixen, there were still some cuts on Luna's face from the jackals' attack which only enforced Alice's protective nature.

"But I thought you said that blood contract would scare the mercs off?" Luna asked, noticing the serious look in Alice's eyes.

"It scared a good portion of them but I bet there are some idiotic mammals out there who'll try it, I just want to make sure." Alice answered "Which team members are on patrol tonight?"

"I think it's Bullet and Mage tonight but Robbie usually tags along if those two are on, they're like best friends." Luna explained.

Alice sat up in the bed and thought out loud "It'll be hard to track them when they're in that truck."

"Can we not talk about work right now?" Luna requested, stretching out "I just want to relax and enjoy this morning."

" **Yeah, 'Enjoy'."** A snarky voice replied.

Luna eyes shot up and looked around for the source of the voice but when she did the vixen let out a moan of "You've got to be shitting me."

A hallucination of Andraste was leaning in the open doorway **"Mornin' cuties."** She grinned.

Alice was puzzled by Luna's sudden movements and odd words, she looked at where Luna was staring and asked cautiously "What are you looking at?"

"It's her," Luna grumbled "Andraste."

"You're seeing her right now? That happens?" Alice asked twice, sounding concerned.

"Sometimes." Luna admitted, looking ashamed "It's crazy, I know."

" **Yep you're a fruitcake, Mommy's girl."** Andraste taunted.

Alice knew it was an insane situation but Luna was hurting, that was clear to see and after her two encounters with Andi she had no problem believing Luna. Alice took hold of Luna's paw and smiled "Well will you tell her to leave us be?"

Luna had expected Alice to question her sanity or back away in fear but instead she got support and that made her heart beat just a little bit faster "Alice?" she uttered, about to lean in for a kiss.

" **Say why didn't you two do the deed?"** Andraste asked, twitching her eyebrows.

"Oh my god, will you shut up?" Luna groaned, looking at Andraste again with an irritated look in her amber eyes.

" **Well you two are dating now? Or is it 'No strings attached' situation?"** Andraste enquired, eyeing up the white furred bunny with a hungry look.

"That's none of your business." Luna stated.

"What is she asking?" Alice enquired, wanting Luna to open up about it.

Luna became all shy but answered honestly "She wants to know what we are?"

Alice wasn't expecting this answer but wanted the situation to be clarified, she smiled softly at Luna before replying "That depends on you."

"Me?" Luna squeaked.

"I'm going to lay out some options for you and whatever choice you pick, I'll respect your wishes." Alice offered.

" **Is there a skipping this and having sex option?"** Andraste asked, acting bored.

Luna ignored her dark side and signalled "Ok."

"We both work on opposite sides; you're a hero and I'm a villain. If your team or your family ever find out you're with me, it'll mean trouble. Plus you still hate me for all I've done. And there's the problem with me too; I want to stay in Zootopia as long as I can but I've told you before that I have a lot of enemies, they'll eventually figure out where I am and they'll come after me." Alice explained, with no hint of fear in her voice "I won't risk putting anyone innocent in danger so when they do they come after me I'll run. I just want you to know that the odds are against us and one day I'll just be gone."

"You're not really selling me on this." Luna half joked.

"So here's the options, one; we part ways but I'll keep the contract alive and carry on protecting you and Ceartais. Two; we become friends with benefits or Three; we become a couple and enjoy it for as long as it lasts." Alice listed, all the while looking at Luna with a kind look.

" **Hmm, two or three sound nice."** Andraste mused.

Luna blocked out Andi and spoke to the alluring assassin "But what do you want?"

Alice leaned in and gave Luna a quick kiss before answering "You know what I want but my choice doesn't matter, you have to do what's right for you but I need to know soon." Alice then let go of Luna's paw and climbed out of bed "I'm going to take a shower, why don't you make us some coffee?"

Luna watched as the bunny sauntered out of the bedroom leaving Luna alone with her muddled thoughts, she was thankful Andraste had disappeared for now so she could think in peace, Luna rose up from the bed and walked over to the mirror on the dresser table and looked at herself. She had slept in her underwear seeing as there was no available sleepwear, her fur was a little messy from just waking up yet her eyes were fully awake and looking dazzling as ever. Luna took a deep breath and tried to focus her thoughts, but as she did she got a whiff of Alice's perfume. The smell triggered memories and emotions linked to the rabbit, all the hate, suffering, desire and confusion came flooding back and in that moment Luna had made her decision.

In the bathroom, Alice was already in the shower and shampooing her fur, trying in vain not to think about the options she had just gave Luna, she had made them up without properly thinking about it and wasn't sure if it was fair to give such an ultimatum. As these doubts swirled in her head she didn't notice the sound of the door opening, of footfalls on the tiles, it was only when she went to put her shampoo bottle down that she saw Luna through the glass door of the shower. Luna removed her bra and knickers with haste as Alice looked on with wide golden eyes and gawped, the vixen open the door and stepped into the shower before cupping Alice's face and whispering "I want to be a couple." Luna then snogged the rabbit without hesitation.

000

Basil Dawson had a day off from work, which was rare for the rodent, even though he was only scheduled to only work four days a week he almost always went in due to David being the on-call mortician and practically, being at precinct 1 there six days a week, but when David went in this morning he didn't follow. Basil was sat in his secret study trying to figure out when and exactly where the air drops of Rattigan's drugs would occur, Sahara Square was a big area to cover and since the Wave had destroyed 90% of the area Rattigan had his pick of places to choose from. Basil theorised the drug smugglers would use a cargo plane to drop the copious amounts of drugs seeing as there was going to be enough to fill three trucks, the plane would have to fly low to avoid showing up on radar and would need a clearing in which to drop the drugs from the plane so the product didn't fall into a building.

Basil had a map of the district up on his laptop and so far had come up with seventeen possible areas where Rattigan's shipment could arrive. There was originally twenty eight, but he had ruled them out due to proximity to other districts, near known police patrol routes and Drowned hotspots. Still, seventeen possible locations was troubling and even Basil with his gifted intelligence couldn't figure out the most likely spot. He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of frustration. Basil tilted his head towards the conspiracy wall and looked at the photo in the centre among all the newspaper clippings and scraps of evidence. The photo was taken over two decades before, in it were Basil and David snuggled up close beside two other mice; a jovial looking, spectacle wearing, male mouse with brown and ginger fur and a grinning female mouse who looked a lot like Olivia minus the piercings, these mice were Hiram and Cathy Flaversham, Olivia's birth parents.

Hiram had been Basil's best friend and roommate at The University of Edinburgh, where Hiram was studying for his masters in engineering and Basil likewise in forensic science. Hiram's girlfriend, Cathy happened to be old friends with an army doctor who just got back from Afghanistan and was looking to become a mortician. Hiram convinced Basil to go on a blind date with this doctor and little did Basil know that he would find the love of his life that night, it was of course Dr. David Dawson. The four friends were inseparable and through all of life's highs and lows together, when Hiram and Cathy got married Basil and David were best man and man of honour respectively and vice versa when they married. When Olivia was born Hiram and Cathy didn't hesitate in making Basil and David godfathers, Basil was convinced that he would be lifelong friends with the Flavershams and that they would still go out for a drink when they were old and grey, but that of course never happened.

A painful montage of memories flashed through Basil's mind; Cathy screaming, Hiram's lifeless body at the bottom of a staircase with his neck twisted in a horrible fashion, the smell of smoke and burning wood, a hallway on fire, a fatally wounded Cathy holding onto a four year old Olivia, the promise and the funeral. Basil escaped the memories and found his eyes stinging with tears, he wiped them away before reaching for his smartphone. Basil's thumb hesitated over the phone's print scanner, if he did this there was no turning back but he couldn't let Rattigan slip through his fingers again, he had to bring him down once and for all. He unlocked his phone, selected a contact and called it, a few seconds later the call was answered and Basil just started talking "Don't talk, just listen. I know who you really are and If you don't want Chief Wilde to know about it, you're going to meet me under the Swan bridge in the canal district at 1am tonight, don't be late." He then abruptly hung up, hoping he had made the right choice.

000

Scarlet and Bullet had made it to Bella's garage a little earlier than expected. Bella was stored in what appeared to be an abandoned garage just outside the grounds of Kodi's parent's mansion, the two hybrids got into the pickup truck which unlocked via their pawprints and waited for the wolf to arrive…and waited…and waited some more. The bored couple chatted while they waited but the chatting morphed into flirting and that eventually evolved into making out.

When Mage eventually arrived he was met with the image of his two friends kissing passionately, he had contemplated backing out and just leaving the young couple be but on the other hand they had a patrol to be getting on with, now he could've just entered the pickup truck and pretended like he saw nothing but that wasn't in his nature. Mage looked at Bella and smirked "Hey Bella, play 'Let's get in on' by Marvin Gaye."

All of the sudden the classic song erupted from the speakers of the truck causing Bullet and Scarlet to cease their kissing and fumble around in a ridiculous fashion but soon enough Scarlet spotted Mage laughing heartily and a scowl grew on her face "Bella, stop the music." And the truck of course obeyed.

Mage waltzed over to the truck and climbed in while chuckling "Oh, you should've seen your faces." before shutting the door.

"Way to ruin the moment." Bullet let out a rare gripe.

"Oh come on, it was funny." Mage justified, putting the keys in the ignition.

"I swear to god, if I didn't have super strength I'd punch you so hard in the jaw." Scarlet simmered.

"Good idea, princess." Bullet smiled before smacking the wolf around the head.

"Ow, easy! It was just a joke." Mage winced.

"Yeah, yeah, just drive." Scarlet replied.

But as Kodi pressed the button to open the roller shutter doors of the garage a figure appeared in the side entrance "Mijo, you forgot your snacks." Gazelle called after her son.

"What the?" Scarlet gawped, a look of utter panic was painted across her face with Bullet wearing a similar expression.

Mage pressed the button on the driver door to roll down the window "Thanks Mama." He replied brightly as his mother trotted over and handed over the brown paper bag full of food.

"I swear you'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on." Gazelle commented before smiling at Bullet and Scarlet "Robyn, Hannah I've put some sandwiches in there for you too."

"Uh, thanks Mrs. Jones." Bullet responded, her paws shaking with nerves.

"Thank you." Scarlet instinctively added, her paws pads sweating.

Gazelle kissed her son on the cheek then said "Be safe out there, watch one another's back." Before walking out of the garage leaving the stunned pair of Bullet and Scarlet.

"Right let's get going." Mage said, setting the bag of snacks down on the seat beside him.

"Hold on!" Scarlet fumed "Your mom knows you're The Mage?"

"Yeah, so does my dad." Mage replied unfazed by Scarlet's apparent frustration.

"What!? You told them?" Bullet freaked.

"They figured it out, they saw a picture of me online and they connected the dots." Mage explained, turning on the engine.

"Oh god, this is bad. They're going to tell our parents, my mom's going to arrest me!" Scarlet garbled.

"Relax will ya'? Do you really think if my Mom had a problem with me being a hero that she'd make us sandwiches for our patrol?" Mage asked rhetorically "My parents are cool with me doing this."

"Really?" Bullet asked, sounding nervous.

"Yes, hell they're even proud of me for it." Mage informed, putting the truck into gear and pulling out of the garage "Now will you two stop acting like babies so we can find some bad guys?"

An hour and half passed and Bullet and Scarlet had gotten over their initial shock of the revelation of the Joneses knowing the truth about Ceartais. The three friends had managed to save a family of Hares from a housefire, stop a gang of robbers from raiding a jewellery store and even intervened before a drunken brawl ensued. The trio were now back in the truck which was parked up on Pack Street on the Savannah central/Rainforest district border and were about to dig into the snacks that Gazelle had prepared but that's when Bella spoke up " **Mage, an alarm has been triggered at a fireworks wholesalers 0.4 miles away."**

Mage put his turkey sandwich back in the tupperware box and replied "Thanks baby."

Scarlet noted Mage's words and sniggered "Dude you speak to Bella like you love her."

"I do love her," Mage reacted defensively, stroking the steering wheel "she's my precious baby."

" **How am I like an infant mammal?"** Bella asked back.

"It's a term of affection, it's means I care deeply about you." Mage answered the virtual interface while driving towards the destination marked on the sat-nav.

"If you ever do get a girlfriend I'm sure she's going to be jealous of what you and Bella have." Bullet joked to which Scarlet chuckled and Mage rolled his eyes.

A few minutes later Mage stopped the tuck outside the small brick building with the sign 'J. Fawkes Fireworks' positioned above the service entrance. The delivery door was wide open and outside was a beat up and rusted old van with its back doors open. "Well that doesn't look a company van." Mage noticed.

"Who robs fireworks? The fourth of July was ages ago." Bullet pondered.

But then the answer appeared, coming out of the service entrance carrying a large cardboard box was a scruffy looking tiger wearing a silver jumpsuit with orange briefs over it, an orange cape and a homemade domino mask made of cardboard and tin foil. "Oh you've got to be shitting me." Mage moaned, knocking his head against the steering wheel.

"That loser is actually robbing a place? I thought he was just a prankster." Scarlet half laughed.

"Um, who is it?" Bullet asked, sensing the odd shape of the thief.

"You know we told you about that wannabe super villain TNTiger ? Well he's the robber." Scarlet answered.

"Ugh, that's it we have to call the cops this time." Mage decided.

"True, but that doesn't me we can't have some fun with this ass wipe before then." Scarlet smiled mischievously.

The three teens got out of the pickup truck and casually walked over to the laughable foe, it was only when they were ten feet away that TNTiger actually noticed the heroes, he stopped in his tracks and announced in overly a theatrical voice "So you've come to face your greatest foe once more? I won't fall for your cheap trickery again Mage."

"Look dude, just put the fireworks back and maybe we won't call the cops." Mage offered, not in the mood for the loon's antics.

"You expect me to submit just because you've brought an extra warrior to face me!?" TNTiger blustered.

"Hi I'm Bullet." Bullet said happily, waving at the 'Bad Guy' "You know you should listen to Mage."

"Friendliness will not steer me, it is my destiny to become Zootopia's greatest villain!" TNTiger replied with vigour.

Scarlet couldn't contain herself and let out a loud and unrestrained laugh "Ha hahahaha! Oh my god, you are just too much dude! Ha hahahaha!"

"Cease with your senseless laughter vile child!" TNTiger responded, infuriated,

But Scarlet kept on laughing and Bullet and Mage were chuckling along.

"Ha! You've all gone mad with fear! You know that your lives are at an end!" TNTiger barked.

"Stop please," Scarlet laughed harder, holding onto her ribs "I'm going to pee my pants. Ha hahahaha!"

"Prepare for the end!" TNTiger bellowed, pulling out a concealed handgun.

There was a brief moment of shock for Scarlet and Mage not expecting the hapless foe to pose any threats however Bullet had anticipated this action, she could smell the gun oil on the feline and could tell by his constant twitching that he was going to reach for his gun. Bullet felt no fear for her own safety, she rushed at the tiger and aimed a perfectly timed kick at TNTiger's crotch and in the same motion launched a punch at his jaw, then with a twirl she high kicked the big cat's wrist and the handgun clattered to the ground, with ease and poise she scooped it up and struck behind TNTiger's right knee causing him to stumble then with the hardest blow she could muster Bullet pistol whipped TNTiger around the back of head, rendering the warped mammal unconscious. "No one points a gun at my princess." Bullet snarled, letting her scarce seen anger show.

As T. fell to the tarmac, Scarlet felt a pleasurable chill snake through body, the girl she loved had leapt in defence of her and that make the ginger hybrid's heart melt. Scarlet knew she should berate her love for being so reckless, that she shouldn't put herself in harm's way and yet all the red clad heroine was look at Bullet with a dreamy look as she grabbed TNTiger's gun and unloaded it before dismantling it. "My Blind Badass." Scarlet uttered with her heart fluttering.

Bullet let a smile form on her muzzle "Are you two—GET DOWN!" Bullet screamed diving towards Scarlet and tackling her to the ground for safety, in that nanosecond a bullet ripped through the air, it was meant to hit Bullet square in the back but instead had tore through the wool of the Mage's knitted beanie as he dived to the floor, missing the wolf's skull by a millimetre. The three heroes had no time to process their near death experience they scuttled behind Bella with haste for cover. Mage took off his hat and poked a finger through the bullet hole and muttered "Holy crap."

"Mage, you ok?" Scarlet fretted, worried for her old friend.

"I-I'm fine." Mage answered, a little shaken "Who the hell shot at us?"

"Hang on I'm trying to pinpoint them." Bullet informed, focusing her super hearing and static sensing abilities, but what she sense was not was she was expecting "There are four mammals fighting a smaller mammal half a mile away, I-I can smell blood."

Just about half a mile away on top of a construction site Ronin was surrounded by four mercenaries, all of them ex special forces, all of them could end the lethal lapin's life with ease but tonight was not the night to die, she still had a job to do; protect Team Ceartais no matter what it took. She had tracked the mercs for a good hour but when they started setting up a sniper nest she began to worry. Ronin had waited to the last second to make her move, throwing a shuriken into the arm of the sniper just as he shot, sending the bullet a little high. The intervention had given away her position and now she was pinned down behind a pile of bricks with no feasible way out, she took out her sidearm and shot at them when they got to close but after three minutes Ronin ran out of bullets, all she had left were her shuriken and her katana. Ronin focused and prepared to attack her closest foe but her concentration was broken by the sound of foreign sounding gunshots before shouts and pained grunts were heard, Ronin poked her head around the corner to see the three youngest members of Ceartais fighting the very mercs sent to catch them " _Putain."_ Ronin cursed before springing into action and slicing off the trotter of male boar merc.

The boar let out a high pitched swine squeal but was stopped midway by a katana plunging through the front of his throat, as Ronin withdrew her sword she looked at the three young heroes to check if they were ok; Bullet was doing her unique dance dodge technique clearly trying to run the merc's ammo out before striking, the gunslinger had a content smile on her muzzle as she danced among the hail of bullets, Mage was also having fun with his opponent he had turned invisible and was toying with the coyote he was battling, hitting him, tripping him and disarming while. Scarlet wasn't messing around and had just knocked out the Llama who had come at her with a tazer, all that was needed was one solid punch under the chin and he was out for the count.

Ronin was about to go assist Bullet and Mage but then she noticed Scarlet had locked her sights on her. Scarlet unclipped the telescopic baton off her belt and pressed the button to extend it, Ronin could no longer see the unchecked anger that usually filled Scarlet's navy eyes, these were the eyes of someone focused and determined. Scarlet began to step towards Ronin, clearly wanting to battle and right now that was the last thing Ronin had in mine, she needed to protect Ceartais not fight one of them. Ronin reached for one of her smoke bombs to try and escape but Scarlet read the move and darted forward swinging her baton forcing Ronin to defend the blow with her katana, Scarlet's super strength was impossible to push back against so Ronin resorted to stamping on the heroine's large foot to make her stagger back a little, Ronin hopped back and quickly yelled "I don't want to fight you Scarlet!"

Scarlet twirled her baton, while also eyeing her teammates who were still busy with their opponents before looking back at Ronin "You said that the last time but you ended up fighting me, and winning." Scarlet replied with no sign of bitterness.

"I'm sorry about that, I really am but there is something bigger going on." Ronin tried to reason.

"That doesn't matter, you just killed that boar, add that to all the other mammals you've killed that's one hell of a reason to hand you over to the cops." Scarlet informed with a controlled voice "I'm not letting you escape this time."

Ronin could tell there was no use talking to the heroine and quickly formed a strategy in her mind, she charge at Scarlet and send a flurry of slashes causing her to defend herself with her gauntlets, eventually pushing her back and causing her to lose her footing giving Ronin the time to drop a smoke bomb and escape. Ronin enacted her plan and charged at Scarlet and sent strike after strike at her, Scarlet raised her gauntlets and parried each attack and was being pushed back but she quickly figured out the assassin's plan and decided to counter, when Ronin's blade next struck her gauntlet she moved her arm locking the katana with the sharpened claws on the dorsum of the gauntlet, with that brief window of surprise Scarlet used her other gauntlet and slashed at the left thigh of the rabbit causing her to bleed and hiss with pain before shoving the swordswoman to the floor. Ronin scrambled back to her feet but was hit with a brace of baton blows one to her right shoulder then another to the left side of her ribs, feeling two of them break.

As Ronin fell back to the ground, wheezing and trying to muster her strength to stand, Scarlet came to a realisation "You were holding back."

"Y-you have to let me go…" Ronin dodged, her ribs hurt way more than the slash to her thigh.

Scarlet took a step forward and demanded to know "Why did you hold back?"

Ronin was getting desperate, she couldn't get captured, she had a contract to complete and more so in her thoughts was Luna, she needed to protect Luna. Out of desperation Ronin said clearly "Robyn you need to listen to me."

Scarlet tensed up at the sound of her real name, Bullet and Mage had heard it as well, they had just finished off the remaining mercs and were rushing over to assist Scarlet. "My name…how do you know my name?" She asked, warier than ever

"I know a lot about you, because I have to, it's my job as your guardian angel." Ronin stumbled to her feet, her voice showing her pain.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Scarlet asked back, still poised to attack.

"I've accepted a contract to protect Team Ceartais from any harm in response to the $10 million bounty on your heads." Ronin explained, putting pressure on her leg wound.

"Guardian angel? Roar said Ray mentioned a guardian angel." Bullet remembered.

"I'm not buying it." Mage voiced his doubt.

"Look why do you think I was fighting these mercenaries? They were planning to kill Bullet and capture you two." Ronin responded, pointing at Scarlet and Mage.

"That would explain the sniper shot." Bullet figured.

"It doesn't matter, we don't need protection and your ass belongs in jail." Scarlet stood her ground.

Ronin was running out of options, she only had one option left, she just hoped the heroes would fall for her bluff "Fine but I'm sure Chief Wilde would love to know what her daughters get up to at night, did I forget to mention I know that Luna's secret too?" Ronin deceived.

"You wouldn't." Scarlet replied, a little intimidated.

"My job is to protect you and if that means you're in police custody too it still means your protected." Ronin threatened "Your move, children."

"Scarlet we…we don't have a choice." Mage admitted.

"We have to let her go." Bullet added, putting a paw on Ronin's shoulder to comfort her.

Ronin let out a breath before lowering her baton "You're a piece of shit Ronin, you know that?" she spat.

"Actually I'm a Monster." Ronin corrected, wiping the blood off her Katana before sheathing it "I must complement you on your skill though, I'm glad to see my little lesson influenced you."

"Get out of here before I bash your god damn brain in." Scarlet simmered.

Ronin didn't need telling twice, she dropped a smoke bomb and was gone leaving the three young heroes with their frustration.

000

Basil wasn't dressed in his usual attire, he was wearing a black hoodie with matching sweatpants to avoid detection, he was leant against the bricks under the Swan Bridge of the canal district, he had chosen this spot because this canal way was closed at night so no barges would come by and spot him and the mammal he was meeting. The mouse looked at his watch, 12.59 am, he didn't expect the mammal he was meeting to be early, they seemed the type to show up at exactly the time they needed to but Basil knew he was being watched by the mystery mammal, probably scouting him out to make sure he was alone.

1am came and Basil could feel someone else's presence under the dark bridge with him, he didn't act scared he just spoke aloud "I know you're there, come on out."

A much taller figure emerged from the shadows, wearing an expression of worry and distrust, it looked down at Basil before leaning against the same wall as the mouse "You wanted to see me Mr. Dawson?" Luna Wilde asked nervously.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Is Basil going to blackmail Luna? What happened back in Edinburgh? How will the rest of the Team react knowing that Ronin is watching their backs? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Basil gives Luna a task, Aleks has to adjust to life with Camelot and the team uncovers a possible Drowned plot. Please Review and c ya soon...)


	34. Best Laid Plans

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of SOC, a big thanks to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter and as always I want to thank my dev team who help craft the story and beta read the chapters, i couldn't do it without you guys. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 33- Best laid plans.**

1am came and Basil could feel someone else's presence under the dark bridge with him. He didn't act scared, he just spoke aloud "I know you're there, come on out."

A much taller figure emerged from the shadows, wearing an expression of worry and distrust, it looked down at Basil before leaning against the same wall as the mouse "You wanted to see me Mr. Dawson?" Luna Wilde asked nervously.

"Indeed I did," Basil responded "and will you please call me Basil? You're not a child anymore."

"So why'd you call me out here?" Luna asked, looking around to make sure they were alone.

"I need Ceartais' help with something." Basil answered bluntly.

"So why am I here?" Luna queried, trying to appear confused.

Basil let out a tired sigh before replying "Luna, we both know you'd never have come meet me tonight unless you took my threat seriously, please don't pretend that you're clueless; I know you're Andraste."

Luna had expected this but the conformation from Basil's lips made Luna's stomach sink with fear, she tried to compose herself then asked "How long have you known?"

"Six years ago when the heroine made her debut, I had my suspicions, after all you are a red furred vixen who's skilled with a bow and from a lineage of vigilantes. But what sealed the deal was the crime scene at your penthouse, all the evidence pointed to an archer helping out Officer Rojek not Spitfire." Basil explained.

"So why didn't you pass the evidence onto the ZPD?" Luna asked further.

"Because I care about you Luna, you're Olivia's oldest friend, I've seen you grow from a bright and happy child into a smart and successful woman. David and I love you like a niece." Basil confessed "I wasn't about let you get arrested, plus it would break your parents' hearts."

"So why are you blackmailing me now?" Luna sniped.

"I have no intention of passing the evidence onto the police, I only said that to get your attention." Basil promised.

"Well you got it, so what do you want?" Luna asked, feeling a little relieved.

"To see Rattigan rotting in a jail cell. I got some intel from a reliable source about a massive drug shipment being airdropped into Sahara square, we're talking enough drugs to fill three trucks. I want Team Ceartais' help to stop this shipment and stop Rattigan." Basil revealed with a determined voice.

"Sounds like something we could do, but why haven't you gone to my Mom about this?" Luna wondered.

"The Rosethorn op went south because someone in the ZPD leaked the information. If I told Judy about this she'd put together a squad of cops and, more than likely it would get back to Rattigan." Basil explained. "The only time we should get the cops involved is when you've stopped the trucks and restrained all of Rattigan's henchmen."

"Fair enough," Luna accepted "but how do you expect us to bring Rattigan down? It isn't like he'd be with the trucks."

"True but that bastard's ego won't allow this transgression to pass, he's got a volatile temper and he'll be looking for the snitch, but when he's at his sloppiest, he'll reveal his location, I'm sure of it." Basil said, sounding certain.

Luna took note of the spite in Basil's voice when he spoke about the drug lord causing her to ask"Why do you want Rattigan arrested so badly?"

A brief look of panic raced across Basil's face but he steadied his emotions and answered "I made a promise to someone, maybe when this is all over I'll tell you what it is."

"Ok." Luna responded, knowing better than to press the subject "So when is this airdrop happening?"

"Well that's the thing, I don't know, all I know is that it's soon." Basil answered.

"So how the hell are Ceartais supposed to find out?" Luna exclaimed.

"Maybe ask your grandmother for assistance," Basil smiled confidently "yes I know The Maid is Ceartais' tech support and I bet old Robin is on it too."

Luna let out a nervous chuckle "Basil, you sometimes scare me with how smart you are."

"So can I count on your help?" Basil asked.

"We'll help." Luna confirmed "I'll see what my Nan can dig up."

"Thank you," Basil smiled, before going to walk away "and between you and me, I'm actually rather proud that you've followed in your grandparents' footsteps."

As Luna watched Basil walk into the night she breathed a sigh of relief, that encounter could've gone a lot worse. Luna then made her way to her car, she got her phone to check the time and saw she had a new text message from 'A.K'. She opened up the message and became instantly concerned 'Hey Luna, if you're not busy could you come to my place? I got roughed up while looking out for your team and was wondering if you could patch me up – Alice xxx'

It took Luna half and hour to drive to Alice's apartment building, when she parked her Bugatti she had also got the small medical bag out from under her seat in case she ever came across an emergency. Luna expect Alice to be too injured since the nature of the text was more like a kind request than pleading for help, she made her way up to the assassin's apartment and used the spare key that Alice had given her to unlock the front door and was met with the sight of Alice sat at the dining table dressed only in a T shirt and knickers trying in vain to stich up the two slashes upon her thigh. "H-hey." Alice winced, with the suture in her paw.

Luna hurried over while fussing "Jesus Alice, what the hell got you?" inspecting the wounds.

"Your sister." Alice chuckled awkwardly, holding onto her broken ribs.

"You fought Robbie!?" Luna asked, ready to flip at Alice.

"She fought, I got my ass kicked." Alice cleared up "She's gotten a lot better since the last time we duelled."

"You didn't retaliate against her did you? Why?" Luna asked, opening up her medical bag and getting some swabs and antiseptic.

"A few reasons, one; the contract, two; I deserved it after what I did to her and three; it'd be a pretty bad thing to beat up my girlfriend's sister." Alice responded, not flinching when Luna cleaned out the wounds, the rabbit was sadly accustomed to pain.

Luna tensed up at being called girlfriend with her thoughts scattered through her mind _She called me her girlfriend, I mean yes I am but it feels weird hearing it. I can't believe I'm in another relationship so quickly after Aleks, maybe it is too soon…No! Stop that Luna! You're going enjoy what you with Alice while it lasts!_ Luna pushed aside her thoughts and queried "So, did Robbie and the others catch you following them?"

"Not exactly, some mercs were also tracking those kids, they were about to kill Bullet but I stopped them. Your teammates must've followed the noise, because before I knew it, they were fighting the mercs too but when Scarlet had finished fighting them she came straight for me." Alice elaborated "Slashing my leg and breaking my ribs in the process."

"This'll hurt, please try and stay still."Luna advised as she got out a fresh needle and suture and began to stich Alice's wounds "So how did you escape in this shape?"

"I convinced Scarlet to stop, I had to call her by her real name." Alice revealed, sounding guilty, barely registering the feeling of the needle plunging through her skin.

"You did what!?" Luna gasped.

"Relax, I didn't tell her how I knew it." Alice eased "But I needed to mention the protection contract to convince her, her and her friends weren't happy about it but they let me go."

"I'm just glad you're all safe." Luna admitted, continuing to stich up Alice's thigh. "If anything happened I don't…" but she couldn't finish her sentence, the words hurt too much.

Alice saw the fearful expression on the vixen's muzzle and reacted "Hey, don't worry, I won't let anything happen to your sister or your friends." Stroking the fur of Luna's cheek.

"It's not just that, what if something happened to you?" Luna revealed her fear for her lover to see, too shy to look Alice in the eye and instead just focused on stitching.

Alice's pulse quickened upon hearing the affectionate words, she could've replied that there was no need to worry but that'd be a lie instead she just said "Luna if anything happens to me, it'll be my just desserts. I'm not going to pretend that I'm a good mammal because I'm not, I'm a monster, pure and simple, but if I die protecting you and your team, then maybe I can leave this life in the knowledge I died doing something good."

Luna looked at Alice with disbelief before uttering "How can you talk about yourself like that?"

"Because going into battle with the fear of death makes you weak, I've accepted my fate, I'll probably die with my sword in my paw but I'm going to enjoy my life while it lasts." Alice gave a soft smile.

Luna couldn't help but admire Alice's resolve and replied "You're really something else Kirabito." Luna had finished stitching up the two slashes and put a dressing over them "There, good as new."

" _Merci,_ Luna," Alice thanked, kissing Luna on the cheek "sorry to wake you just so you could fix me up."

"I was awake anyway, I was getting some intel about some drugs getting airdropped into the city." Luna explained, gathering up her used medical supplies and heading over to the trash bin in the kitchen.

"Oh you mean the Sahara Square job?" Alice commented casually.

"Wait, you know about it?" Luna asked back, sounding surprised.

"Well sure, I was offered the job, but I had to turn it down because I've already got a hit that night." Alice revealed.

Luna swiftly went back over to Alice and asked in a hopeful voice "Do you know the details?"

"Of course." Alice answered "Let me guess, you want to know?"

Luna scooped up the bunny from the chair and held her bride style before smiling "How about I lay you on your bed, put some ice on your ribs and you tell me all about it?"

"And they say romance is dead." Alice jested, as she was carried into the bedroom by her lover.

000

The next day came and after the younger members of the team had finished school, they arrived in the bunker after Marian had called a meeting. Sasha Jones had tagged along with her big brother because she wanted to get some shots of Robyn's upgraded uniform. The entire team plus Robin sr. Marian and Sasha were sat in the observation deck as Luna explained all the details about Rattigan's drug shipment "So that's everything; the plane will drop the drugs off at 3am on Wednesday morning in the parking lot of the old soccer stadium in Sahara square." Luna relayed the info she got from Alice.

Kion had a very serious look on his face as he thought out loud "Three trucks, all guarded, probably escort vehicles too. It'll be like going against an army."

"We've fought with those kind of odds before, look at what we did at the Rosethorn." Kodi pointed out.

"We got lucky at the Rosethorn," Robyn corrected "and there we had a SWAT team and Ronin supporting us."

"We'd have to stop them before they drive off with the drugs otherwise we'd have to split up and follow each truck." Bullet figured.

"That means laying in wait but that parking lot is massive, they'd see us coming a mile off." Kion remembered.

"You guys will figure something out, you always do." Sasha encouraged.

Luna looked down at Olivia whose face was showing her worry, Luna asked the mouse gently "You doing alright Olivia?"

"I just…I just can't wrap my head around my Dad's vendetta against Rattigan, what is this bloody promise he made? I feel like I don't even know anything about him." Olivia vented.

"Says the girl who moonlights as a mech piloting vigilante." Marian commented "I'm just surprised that Basil knew so much." These words caused Luna to panic a little, hoping that the team wouldn't dig too deep for details.

"But we've also got the added problem that Basil knows who Andraste really is and that the Hood and The Maid are not quite retired yet." Robin sr. mused.

"That's the only identity problem we have," Robyn cut in "that psycho Ronin knows who me and Luna really are."

"Yeah, this whole protection contract thing doesn't exactly put me at ease." Hannah admitted.

"I want to know who hired her." Kodi chimed in.

"But isn't a good thing?" Sasha asked naively "You've got someone watching your back."

"You don't know this mammal Sasha, she's ruthless as they come, she'll kill anyone in her way. Even if they are mercs and hitmammals they deserve a fair trial and not being executed by Ronin." Kion reasoned.

"And what's to stop her turning on us? She's a sword for hire, we can't trust her." Robyn enforced, making Luna look more and more uncomfortable, luckily no one noticed.

Marian cleared her throat to get everyone's attention before saying "Before we get carried away with ways to deal with Rattigan and Ronin, there is a reason I called this meeting."

"Well don't leave us in suspense Nana." Robyn said with a cocky smile.

"As you know tomorrow is the charity auction to help those left homeless by The Wave, I've looked at the guest list and I can't help but feel worried." Marian unveiled "In attendance we're going to have the mayor, the deputy mayor, a few police chiefs, the commissioner, most of the city council and more VIPs than I can count."

"You're worried about The Drowned attacking." Hannah assumed, feeling sure that this is what the old vixen was getting at.

"Yeah and it looks like the cops are too, they're doing security checks at the Opera House as we speak." Marian informed.

"So what are you worried about?" Olivia asked, knowing there must be more to the story.

"I've checked the guest list and found four board members of Phelps Arms will be at the auction including the CEO Eustice Phelps." Marian told.

"And for some reason The Drowned have got it out for Phelps arms." Luna remembered "Damn it, it's too good an opportunity for them to pass up."

"So lemme' guess we're going to be guarding the place?" Robyn asked.

"Yes but it's going to be pretty hard to protect the guests if the attack comes from the inside, The Drowned are master infiltrators." Robin senior reminded.

"Well I'm going to be in there as a guest, so will you two." Luna spoke up, nodding at her grandparents. "We can scout from inside while the rest of the team are on standby outside."

"Three sets of eyes to cover the whole event, sounds risky." Marian voiced her worries.

"Well what about a fourth pair of eyes," Sasha butted in "I'll be at the auction anyway."

Before Marian could respond Kodi just gave a flat "No."

Sasha had clearly expected this reaction from her brother and responded "Barkfeed wants me there to cover the event and Mama has given me permission to be there, it'll be the perfect cover."

"Then you shouldn't be going in the first place," Kodi stated "actually why aren't we telling the ZPD about this so they can cancel the whole auction?"

"Because we have no evidence that an attack is going to happen," Robin sr. answered "at the moment it's just a hunch."

"Look, all I'll be doing is keeping an eye on things, it isn't like I'm going to fight if anything happens." Sasha persuaded.

"No it's too risky, if anything happens-"Kodi fretted but was cut off.

"I'll be there to protect her." Luna interrupted "I'll be there to protect Sasha and anyone else should the need arise."

"I hate to burst your bubble Lu, but you're not going to be able to hide your bow or your daggers in a posh dress." Robyn brought up.

"That's why we're going to inside Opera House and stash some weapons while scouting out the place." Luna decided, while getting out her phone.

"And how the heck are we going to do that?" Kion asked, half laughing.

"You leave that to me." Luna grinned confidently as she selected a number on her phone.

000

An hour later Luna, Robyn, Hannah and Kion were outside the Opera House in the heart of the meadowlands on the north side of Zootopia. Luna had not been invited to the auction due to her being the eldest daughter of the mayor and the chief of precinct 1, she had been invited due to her being a trustee of the Opera House. Now Luna wasn't one for Opera or the theatre for that matter, but her birth mother, Victoria had been and was a lifelong member of the trust and even after her death, a small percentage of her holdings went into keeping the Opera House in money. When Luna got her inheritance at 18, she had decided to keep up the tradition her mother had started. But Luna had used her connections within in the Opera House to organise an impromptu guided tour of the venue under the guise that Luna wanted to make sure everything was up to a high standard, it was time to play the stuck up socialite most mammals thought she was.

"Is this really going to work?" Robyn asked, getting out of the Zuber cab the four friends had piled into (they had to take a cab seeing as Luna's Bugatti only had two seats and Kion was too large to fit in).

"Trust me, I can act like a bitch when I want to." Luna smirked, getting a pair of sunglasses out her handbag and putting them on her face.

"Pfft, Luna you're one of the nicest mammals I know." Kion dismissed "I don't think you could be mean if you tried."

"Oh really?" Luna grinned, arching an eyebrow before snapping in a cold voice "Listen you dumb cat, you're going to scout around the building for hiding spots for the team can your feeble mind handle such a task or is that ridiculous mane of yours putting weight on your brain?!"

The three teens were stunned by Luna's tone and words, Hannah was so surprised she let out a quiet "Oh my…"

Kion brushed off the insult and chuckled "I stand corrected."

"Now run along." Luna waved off, staying in character.

"Yes ma'am." Kion mock saluted before making his way to the back of the building.

"Shall we do this girls?" Luna asked in a snobbish voice before walking up the stone steps of the Opera House.

"Damn Lu, where'd you learn to talk like that?" Robyn asked with amazement, fixing the heavy backpack she was carrying on her back.

"Meh, a little bit from Grandad Robin and Nana Marian but a lot from my birth mother." Luna answered.

"I thought Victoria was a nice mammal?" Hannah asked in confusion, her cane tapping the steps.

"She was, but a lot of Mammals wouldn't even listen to my Mom is she didn't act like this, it was an act but an act that got her respect." Luna explained as they reached the top of the stairs to find a jittery looking male possum in a suit flanked by two Bison security guards. Luna knew the possum from the various galas and fundraisers she had attended through the years, his name was Laurence Treetail and he was the curator of the Opera House.

"Ah, Miss Wilde we have been expecting you and your guests." Treetail greeted, as the two bison opened the glass doors into the grand looking building.

"My name is Doctor Wilde, I didn't go to medical school for seven years to be called Miss." Luna barbed, walking right by the possum with her nose held high.

"Y-yes of course, my apologies Dr. Wilde." Treetail stammered "But I don't believe I've met your friends."

Luna stepped over to Robyn and placed a gentle paw on her shoulder before introducing "This is my beloved baby sister Robyn and the striped lady with her is her girlfriend Hannah, they're tagging along because dear Hannah is such a fan of the theatre."

"Ah well I hope you enjoy this tour ladies." Treetail smiled.

"Thank you, I'm sure it will be lovely." Hannah replied in a polite tone.

"But be under no illusions Mr. Treetail I am here to make sure that my donations are being spent correctly and that the venue for tomorrow's auction is perfect." Luna cautioned in a chilling voice.

"O-of course Mis-, I mean Dr. Wilde." Treetail stuttered in response "So shall we begin the tour?"

"Yes we shall." Luna signalled, watching the nervous wreck of a possum lead the way.

As the group walked Robyn leaned over and whispered to her sister "Don't you think you're laying on this rich snob shtick a little thick?"

"Don't worry Robbie, Treetail is used to it." Luna whispered back.

Treetail stopped and turned back to the three guests and informed "This is the foyer where the mammals invited will present their invitations and go through the ZPD security checkpoints."

"Will this be the only entrance?" Luna asked looking around and already spotting three spots above a sharpshooter could make a nest.

"Yes, we've accepted Commissioner Bogo's offer of additional security, you can't be too careful these days." Treetail answered. "The place will look more like airport security than a gala event tomorrow."

"You can't put a price on safety, you should feel glad that the ZPD are looking out for us." Luna said firmly.

"Believe me Dr. Wilde I'm grateful."Treetail assured.

The tour continued and Treetail showed the three heroines the main theatre where most performances were held as well as the small art gallery near the bar, all the while Luna, Robyn and Hannah were placing small CCTV cameras in concealed spots that linked straight back to the Bunker.

But soon enough they reached the ballroom. It was an impressive size and workers were busy decorating the place as well as hanging up photos of some of the mammals whose lives were cut short by The Wave. "As you know the wonderful Gazelle Jones will be the host for tomorrow's auction and will be stood on the stage while the auction is on and as you can see the workers she has hired have been hard at work to make sure the event is perfect." Treetail explained, stopping by the row of long table that the buffet would rest on.

"Hmmm." Luna sounded with a disapproving look on her muzzle causing a worried expression to appear on Treetail's face.

"Is there something wrong?" Treetail queried with trepidation.

"i 've been coming to this fundraisers for years and you know one thing that bothers me? The buffet." Luna said, taking off her sunglasses to show the seriousness in her amber eyes.

"I promise you the spread is of the highest quality." Treetail reacted.

"That is not the thing that bothers me," Luna shot down "hardly any of the food gets eaten and I bet there are trays full of food in kitchen that never make it out here, so what do you do with the food?"

"Well we throw it in the trash." Treetail answered, thinking it was no big deal.

"You throw it in the trash? When there are thousands of homeless mammals starving in The Wave towns?" Luna barked.

"Well-uh-I…"Treetail stammered, while Robyn and Hannah observed with wonder how Luna could act so venomous.

"I want all the uneaten food sent to the nearest Wave town after the auction, do I make myself clear?" Luna threatened in the bitchiest voice she could muster.

"Of course, Dr. Wilde."Treetail responded, getting out his phone to make a note of it.

"And another thing," Luna yelled, marching over to a sign with directions to places within the Opera house "what the hell is with the sign?"

"What's wrong with it?" Treetail asked, sweating.

"It's not up to code, the law states that any public venue must have signs that have both written words and brail, how are mammals like Hannah supposed to find the bathrooms if they can't read the signs?" Luna asked rhetorically with spite.

Hannah was waiting for this signal and spoke up "Actually, um, where is the bathroom?"

"Robyn will have to show you the way since this incompetent buffoon can't cater for the needs of disabled mammals." Luna continued her barrage, the girls took this as their cue and quietly exited the ballroom as the vixen kept yelling at the possum "Also I have seen no wheelchair ramps anywhere near the steps in this place, what are you going to do about it!?"

As soon as Robyn and Hannah closed the door to the ballroom Hannah breathed "Remind me never to get on your sister's bad side."

"I just feel sorry for that Treetail dude, he looks like he's one step away from a panic attack."Robyn replied "Come on, we still have to stash those weapons."

The two girls had to be sneaky to place the remaining cameras without being seen, the girls then went into both the male and female bathrooms to stash the weapons from Robyn's backpack in the toilet cisterns and the ceiling tiles. The couple were just about to head back to the ballroom when Robyn noticed a door slightly ajar near the staff entrance to the theatre "Hold up, I just want to check this out." She said.

"What is it?" Hannah asked, linking on Robyn's arm with one arm and holding her cane in the other.

"There's an open door, I just want to peek to make sure everything is fine." Robyn answered, leading Hannah over to the door, she opened the door slightly before quietly gasping "Oh my god…"

The door led to the costume department, a massive room with hundreds upon hundreds of costumes for mammals of all sizes. Robyn's navy eyes lit up as she walked into the room with Hannah. The striped hybrid could smell the fabrics and reached out her paw to touch some of the outfits "Costumes?" she asked, wanting Robyn to confirm.

But Robyn wasn't listening she was drawn to a particular dress, she walked over to it with her mouth agape with awe. It was a pink dress tailored in a 17th century style and wouldn't look out of place in the palaces of Europe but all Robyn could see was that it bared some similarity to Princess Aurora's dress, the lynx princess from one her favourite Disney movies; Sleeping Beauty. "Uh, Robyn? You ok?" Hannah quizzed.

Robyn snapped out of her daze and garbled "Oh y-yeah, I'm fine."

Hannah took a step forward and touched the dress that Robyn was marvelling at "You like this dress?"

"…Yeah, it kind of looks like Princess Aurora's." Robyn admitted timidly.

"Well try it on." Hannah willed.

"W-What? I can't, what if we get caught?" Robyn replied, all flustered.

"What the worst that can happen? Luna's distracting Treetail anyway, c'mon put it on." Hannah encouraged.

"I dunno'." Robyn said, thinking she would look silly in the dress.

"How about I put on one too? Then we can be embarrassed together?" Hannah compromised.

"Really?" Robyn gave a small smile.

"Sure, pick me out a dress." Hannah confirmed.

It didn't take long for Robyn to pick a dress for Hannah, it was a strapless crystal blue dress that complement the white of Hannah's fur and reminded Robyn of Elsa's dress from the movie Floatzen. There were two dressing screens in the room and each girl went behind them to get changed into the costumes. Robyn was the first to emerge and couldn't believe how she looked when gazed into the large mirror in the centre of the room "Is that me?" She quietly asked herself as she took in every detail of the dress and the golden tiara she was wearing, she couldn't grasp how good she looked in the dress and felt like she stepped out of a fairy tale.

Of course every princess in a fairy tale has a one true love and luckily for Robyn she was very close by, from behind the dressing screen Hannah appeared and with grace and poise she glided over to the awestruck Robyn who put her paw to her chest in shock and felt her cheeks heat up rapidly "You…you…" Robyn struggled, paralysed by how beautiful her girlfriend looked.

"So do I look like queen Elsa?" Hannah teased knowingly.

"No, you look more beautiful." Robyn replied, then cursed herself for saying something so cheesy.

Hannah didn't seem to mind the response though, she got closer to Robyn and ensnared the love drunk girl in a sensual kiss before pulling back and saying "I don't need to see you to know how beautiful you are, Princess Robyn."

Robyn's heart was doing cartwheels and felt like her cheeks were blushing so much that they were going to set on fire, despite this though she managed to reply "But nothing compares to your beauty, Queen Hannah."

"Oh now that is adorable." A voice cooed from the doorway, the couple turned to find Luna and Mr. Treetail smiling at them.

"I-uh-this is not what it looks like!" Robyn said hastily, looking mortified.

"Um, Princess it's exactly what it looks like." Hannah giggled at her flustered girlfriend.

Luna had a happy look on her face as she got out her chequebook from her handbag and quickly wrote Treetail a cheque "I'd like to buy these dresses if that's ok, Mr. Treetail?"

Treetail took the cheque and his eyes went wide upon seeing the figure "But of course Dr. Wilde."

Luna didn't allow the girls to get changed back into their normal clothes instead she made the teen sweethearts walk through the Opera House in the extravagant costumes earning looks and sounds of 'Aww' from staff. When they reached outside they could see Kion waiting beside a Zuber cab, when the lion saw his friends' outfits his jaw dropped and instantly reached for his smartphone to take a picture. "What are you two-" Kion began to ask with a laugh.

"Not a word! Not a frickin' word asshole!" Robyn seethed at her much taller friend.

Hannah just chuckled and kissed Robyn on the cheek before adding "Is that anyway for princess to talk?"

000

Ten miles outside the city limits was one of the biggest military bases in the United States, North Howard military base was so large it catered to the Army, Navy and the Air force with thousands of military personnel working and living on its grounds. But one hangar near the airfield was the temporary home of Camelot. Aleks Rojek was begrudgingly brought into a nest of elite British and American soldiers, out of the sea of faces he only recognised two; Ray and Zoe. As soon as Aleks' military police escort brought him into the hangar Ray instantly walked over and extended his paw to the silver fox "Thank you for coming Rojek." The white tiger greeted.

"No problem." Aleks lied, shaking the tiger's paw "Are all these members of Camelot?"

"Yes, the best both America and Britain has to offer." Ray said with pride, leading Rojek over to the table where Zoe was fixing up her drones. "We have multiple ops going on at one time and usually stick to teams of three to avoid detection, so you probably never work with these guys only me and Nightfall."

"I still find it hard to believe you want a cop's help." Aleks commented, ignoring the funny looks he was getting from the other Camelot members.

"You're a cop who's a great shot and knows this city better than any of my troops, you may not trust me, Rojek, but I trust you." Ray responded bluntly.

Aleks was about to reply with something smarmy when Zoe spotted him and beamed "Foxy! You made it."

"Hello Zoe." Aleks nodded formally.

"Yeesh you're almost as prim as the big kitty." Zoe mocked "Lighten up, will ya'? As soon as this mission is done you're off to the MCB, so try smiling for once."

Aleks faked a smiled and asked "Happy now?"

"Very, you look cuter when you smile." Zoe flirted.

"Ahem," Ray cleared his throat, signalling Zoe to stop making advances to the fox "did the weapon Aleks request arrive yet?"

"Yup, quartermaster dropped it off twenty minutes ago." The bat answered pointing at the gun case across the table.

Aleks didn't wait for permission he walked over to the gun case, flipped the catches and lifted the lid. He had a genuine smile on his muzzle as he admired the weapon, it was a jet black Remington Modular Sniper Rifle .338 Lapua Magnum, he ran his paw across the rifle admiring the craftmanship put into it.

"Do you like it?" Ray queried.

"It's a work of art, thank you for getting this for me." Aleks answered, putting the lid back down.

"I read your file, you scored best at the academy in the sniper division and on a few police raids your shots were the key to victory." Ray praised "I need a sharpshooter on this op we're planning."

"What exactly is the operation?" Aleks asked.

"We managed to get some info out of a smuggler who operates in the docklands of Tundra Town, turns out he gets paid to leave a truck full of food and water for the Drowned every Friday in the side the shipping containers." Ray explained "The NSA has paid this smuggler off to tell us where the truck is going to be parked and not to tell the Drowned, we're going to lay in wait and track The Drowned back to their hideout."

"And I'm there to help you get through Tundra Town and be your sniper in case the shit hits the fan?" Aleks guessed.

"We SP tomorrow, no later than 0500. I've organised a private room for you on the base, if you bunk with Camelot, they're likely to prank you" Ray said, crossing his paws across his chest.

"I appreciate it." Aleks replied, picking up the case "Where's the firing range? I want to test this rifle out and tune her up."

"Just head through that exit and head east, it's a five minute walk." Zoe smiled, spinning a screwdriver in her claw.

"Thanks." Aleks said before walking out of the hangar, he wasn't in the mood to be stared at by the judging eyes of the unknown Camelot members.

Aleks was wearing a security pass around his neck so he wasn't bothered by any mammals as he made his way to the firing range but as he walked by what looked like a prison block something caught his eye, he spied a pair of young soldiers, one a stag and the other a female puma dragging a goat in handcuffs into a storage shed. As the shed door slammed shut Aleks' gut told him something bad was about to happen, the two young soldiers were not military police so why were they with a prisoner and why did they bring him into the shed. He quickly got out his phone and texted Zoe. 'Zoe call MP, get them to shed near prison block ASAP!' while rushing over to the shed, he quietly set down his gun case outside the door before opening the door slightly and seeing that his suspicions had been proven right.

Dangling from a chain by his handcuffs the goat was being beaten by the stag and the puma, each of the punching or kicking the goat as swung on the chain, he was crying in pain while the soldiers smiled menacingly with delight. Aleks stormed in and hollered "Stop what you're doing!"

The Stag and the Puma looked behind them with initial fear but their fright disappeared when then just saw Aleks "Beat it civilian, we're working here." The Stag brushed off.

"And what work is that?" Aleks questioned, stepping forward, unafraid of the two larger mammals.

"We don't have to explain our orders to you." The Puma blustered.

"So your commanding officer ordered you to beat that defenceless mammal?" Aleks called out.

"This is not a mammal, he's a god damn terrorist, he's with The Drowned." The Stag argued.

"Then he's your prisoner and thus he should be treated within his rights." Aleks reacted, hoping that Zoe had read the text message.

"He lost his rights the minute he joined those psychos." The Puma sniped "Now you best run along Fox if you know what's good for you."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do if I don't?" Aleks asked boldly.

The Puma replied by getting out her sidearm and pointing it Aleks' head "I'm going to do this."

Aleks retained his fearless composure as he looked at the Soldiers threatening his life, he could see the puma's paw trembling and chuckled "You've never pointed a gun at a mammal before, have you?"

"Of course I have!" The Puma denied.

"No, now that I get a good look at you two you're barely put of basic training, hell I'd say you're both teenagers. Meaning you've not seen combat yet and never had to use that gun." Aleks mocked.

"Shut up!" The Stag shouted.

"Let me guess, you wanted to see some action, to fight the enemy but with no wars on at the moment you decide to get your fix of violence by beating up prisoners…pathetic." Aleks theorized with distain.

"You shut your mouth right now, you hear me?" The Puma warned in an agitated voice.

"Or what, you'll shoot me?" Aleks grinned, before taking a step forward and pressing his forehead into the pistol and daring "Do it, shoot me if you've got the guts." Making the Puma's paw shake even more and her face grow fearful.

But before the Puma or Stag could react the door burst open and in the doorway was Ray with Zoe on his shoulder flanked by four military police officers. "Drop your weapon!" one of the MPs bellowed, the puma instantly obeyed and the four MPs rushed in to arrest the stag and the puma. Aleks unfazed from the experience walked calmly out of the shed while saying coolly to Zoe "Thanks but I had it under control."

Ray and Zoe had equally impressed looks on their faces as Aleks picked up his gun case and continued towards the firing range.

Later, just after 10pm, Aleks was in his private quarters Ray had provided. He was reading a book on his phone and trying not to think about the one thing that was weighing down his heart; Luna. The break up was still fresh and even though he didn't hate the vixen he no longer trusted her or could find it in himself to forgive for cheating on him. Aleks berated himself mentally for being so stubborn but he just couldn't get past the lie, the lie that Luna didn't have feeling for Ronin. He was brought out of his depressing thoughts by a sweet voice "You know, what you did today was stupid."

Aleks looked up to see Zoe sitting on the open windowsill. She fluttered into the room, with the large bat landing on the edge of the bed "Pretty cool, but stupid." She criticized.

"If you're going to give a lecture on how I'm essential to the team and shouldn't take dumb risks, please don't." Aleks responded, putting down his phone.

"Nah that's Ray's job, I'm the sort of girl to say 'I told you so', so when you get killed doing something stupid I'm going to stand over your corpse and laugh 'I told you so'." Zoe darkly joked.

Aleks couldn't help but laugh at the bat's dark sense of humour "I'll keep that in mind."

There was a brief silence between the two before Zoe dragged "S-o…"

"So?" Aleks repeated, puzzled.

"So you've got a pretty girl in your bedroom, who's been flirting with you since we met and you're not even going to make a move? You could at least pour me a drink." Zoe smouldered.

A rare glimpse of awkwardness washed over Aleks face as he tried to form a response "Oh, um…Look Zoe I just got out of a relationship and I'm not sure…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up." Zoe halted "I'm not talking about relationships, I'm just talking about a bit of fun."

Aleks had only had two lovers in his twenty four years, a high school sweetheart and Luna, and both of them had been vixens but that didn't mean he wasn't interested in females of other species. And now that he was faced with a new experience the usually calm and collected fox was fumbling his words "Well, Uh, I've never done it with…."

"You've never made love with someone from another species before?" Zoe guessed "Then let me ask you this; do you want to spend the night with me? No strings, just fun?"

Aleks contemplated Zoe's offer while looking at her enticing form, his depression told him it was too soon but his stubborn side told him he needed to move on from Luna. He gathered his courage and spoke the answer that made the most sense to him at that moment "Yes."

"Right answer, Foxy." Zoe charmed before flying into Aleks' embrace.

(AN/ So what did you guys think? Please please please Review! Next time on SOC; Kiara has a nightmare, Camelot play the waiting game and a secret will be exposed. Please review and c ya soon...)


	35. Innocence lost

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of SOC. A massive thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter AND to those who've not enjoyed the last few chapters I'm sorry you didn't like them, but I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fic. A big shout out to senny74 who wrote the opening part with Aleks and Zoe and to the Dev team who helped Beta read this chapter. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 34 - Innocence lost**

Kiara could feel the warmth of the sun against her fur and the smell of freshly cut grass filling her nostrils as she focused on her surroundings. She was in a back garden of a house, she looked at the suburban home and felt a sense of safety she could not explain. The lioness walked across the grass towards the back door of the house and began to hear multiple voices chatting, all of them sounding happy and positive, but when she saw the reflection in the glass pane of the door, she didn't recognise the figure staring back at her, this lioness was a cub around the age of nine, wearing a pair of denim shorts and a white t shirt with a gold star on it and her fur was a goldish brown colour instead of stark white _Who are you?_ Kiara asked herself mentally.

"Did you find him yet, Kiara?" A young voice asked, Kiara spun around to see a vixen kit no older than eight, dressed in flowery summer dress with a brown mouse a similar age standing on her shoulder.

"Nope, how about you two?" Kiara asked back _Wait I didn't mean to say that, why can't I control what I say? And who's Kiara?_

"Team Olivia and Luna have failed." Olivia sighed, steadying herself by placing her paw on Luna's cheek. _Olivia is the mouse…how do I know that?_

"I don't suppose those two have seen him, have they?" Kiara joked, pointing at two toddlers playing in the sandbox, one looked like a ginger furred rabbit but her tail was long and fluffy and the other looked like a striped arctic fox.

"I dunno', let's ask them." Luna played along "Robbie, Hannah, have you seen Kion?" _Kion? Kion, that's the name…ugh, why can't I remember?_

The ginger furred toddler just blew a raspberry while the striped vixen just held up the toy truck in her paw and happily said "Twuck!"

"How insightful." Olivia responded with a giggle.

"Fine," Kiara mumbled before saying loudly "Ok Kion, we give up, you win; come on out."

"Victory!" A gleeful voice cheered from above, the three friends looked above them to find a male lion cub around five years old sitting on a branch, high up a tree. _Kion, that's Kion…I think I know him?_

"Hey climbing up a tree is cheating!" Luna protested in a stroppy voice.

"I hid and you seeked, you just didn't look up." Kion replied with a cheeky smile.

"Kion, get down from there, you know Mom and Dad get mad when we climb the trees." Kiara advised, sounding responsible despite her very youthful voice. _Why do I feel dread, like something bad is going to happen?_

"Fine." Kion pouted before shuffling across the branch and to the truck of the tree but as he did so his paw slipped and lost his balance and in one with motion he dangling upside down from the branch, holding on for dear life by the claws of his hands and feet, the cub let out a frightened cry and the three friends below reacted with horror as well.

"KION!" Kiara yelled, _He's going to fall, stop standing there you idiot, go help him!_

"Mr and Mrs. Priderock! Mom, Dad!" Luna hollered, racing into the house.

"Kion, hold on!" Kiara shouted, racing to the tree and jumping at with her claws extended and began climbing up the trunk. _Come on, hurry up!_

"I'm slipping!" Kion panicked.

"I'm almost there!" Kiara panted, climbing up the tree as fast as she could.

But then it happened, the sound of claws scrapping against bark, the terrified cry coming from Kion's mouth, Kiara watched as the lion cub fell from the branch and began hurtling towards the ground opened her mouth and screamed…

000

"Kion!" Kiara roared, sitting up in her make shift bed in the bowels of The Drowned base. Kiara or 'Lilly' as she was known as by her Drowned brethren looked around her room in a fit of panic, her heart hammering in her chest and her huge white paws trembling "I didn't catch him…" she panted, feeling a lump in her throat and her eyes getting watery.

There was curtained patrician where a door should've been at the other end of the room, suddenly an out of breath Fuli tore through it and wheezed "Lilly…Lilly are you ok?" the cult leader looked like she had just shot out of her bed, wearing a vest and shorts and not her usual robe.

"I didn't catch him." Kiara said with a quivering lip.

"Catch who?" Fuli asked, gliding over and putting her small paw on Kiara's giant one.

"The cub…I can't remember." Kiara struggled, tears soaking the white fur of the titan's cheeks.

"Oh my sweet Lilly, did you have a nightmare?"Fuli asked softly, like a parent to a child.

Kiara nodded before wiping away her tears and saying "I don't why I felt so scared."

"Lilly, it was just a nightmare. You don't have to feel scared when you're with your brothers and sisters, The Drowned are here for their champion." Fuli soothed. "And you'll be there for them tonight."

"Are you going to punish the bad mammals?" Kiara asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yes, my Champion and you're going to help me." Fuli smiled softly, masking the twisted thoughts that dominated her mind.

000

Aleks was first to wake up. It was still before dawn, as he opened his eyes. He gazed around his quarters, provided by Ray, and was met with the sight of Zoe's naked body slumbering on his triggering a rush of pleasurable memories from the night before. His and Zoe's clothes were scattered all around the bed and Aleks could clearly see the claw marks on Zoe's vest; evidence of his lust for the flying and how sexually frustrated he had been. However he was bothered by a nagging sense of guilt, even though he knew he had nothing to feel guilty about, and then of course thoughts of Luna flickered through his mind along with all the sorrow, anger and regret that came with them. But in the hour where Aleks and Zoe made love all of the negative emotions that had plagued him recently, disappeared. All that mattered in that moment was the passion between the two but now his depression was creeping back. The silver fox gently took the bat off himself and laid her down next to him before getting up from the bed. Zoe stirred from being moved, she forced her head up and greeted with yawn "Hey, Foxy."

"Morning, Zoe" Aleks responded formally, not sure how to act the morning after a one night stand. He walked over to his suitcase and got out some underwear along with the combat fatigues he was going to be wearing for the mission.

"What a night." She breathed with satisfaction and turned on her back, tilting her head to get an eyeful of the naked fox.

"Uh, glad you enjoyed it." Aleks replied, feeling awkward.

"Aaand," Zoe dragged teasingly "what about you? How was your first foray into interspecies nookie?"

"Well…" Aleks began, his mouth feeling dry "Umm, except of almost having a heart attack, it was pretty nice."

Zoe laughed before taunting "Aww I'm sorry, was I too fast for you?"

Even though the mood was casual Aleks felt he needed to clarify something, fully knowing that it would ruin the mood, he looked back at her and asked with serious voice "Zoe, there's nothing serious behind it, ok? It was just sex."

Zoe was quiet for a few seconds before answering with satisfied smile "It was just sex.", that was enough for Aleks who gave a small smile back before continuing getting dressed.

Zoe got out of bed and started to gather her clothes as well, chuckling slightly when she saw the rips caused by Aleks' teeth and claws. "We have to go to the mission briefing soon, I'll head out first so Ray doesn't get suspicious." She said, thinking that topic change would be best.

"Right." Aleks concurred, unable to resist looking at Zoe's nude body.

Soon enough they were both dressed and Zoe was about to fly out the window, however she felt needed to say something also "I think she's stupid." She said, out of the blue.

"Who?" Aleks queried.

"The girl that broke your heart," Zoe answered "I'm guessing she's the one who messed up and not you."

"…She not stupid." Aleks replied, not knowing why he was defending Luna.

"Really? Aleks you're one of the sweetest mammals I've ever met and your good in the sack to boot, so whoever this girl was she didn't deserve you, she's a moron who didn't realise how good she had it." Zoe spoke her mind "You may feel like shit now but in the long run you'll figure out that you're better off without her."

"…Thanks." Aleks said meekly, knowing that Zoe was right but the pain of heartbreak still ailed him.

Zoe flew up towards Aleks face and stole a kiss before saying "And if you need help forgetting your troubles I know a very sexy bat who can help."

"I'll keep that in mind." Aleks said with the smallest of smiles, Zoe then flew out the window leaving him alone with his lingering sorrow.

An hour later Aleks was leading Zoe and Ray through the snowy ruins of Tundra Town, the chopper had dropped outside Fishtown Market, three miles away from the clean up and construction crews working hard to rebuild the district. The docks were only five miles east from Fishtown market but for this op to be successful, they would have to approach undetected, in the likelihood that The Drowned had scouts in the ruins. Luckily, Aleks knew the layout of Tundra Town well and was aware of all the alleys and short cuts in the area. Zoe had spent most of the trek on Ray's shoulder, it took up a lot of energy for her to flap her wings and seeing as they had to approach their destination slowly it made sense for her to conserve energy. Even though all three mammals were dressed in thermal gear, both Ray and Zoe were feeling the chill as they trudged through the snow covered district. Aleks, on the other hand, seemed comfortable, he was from Poland after all, the winters there could be brutal.

It took them nearly three hours to transverse the short five mile distance. The use of the concealed paths that Aleks had led the squad down had eaten up time, but he got them there safely and unseen. The fox took point as they ascended through the wrecked administration building of the docks, all three of them silent, communicating only through nods and hand signals, it was only when they got to the sixth floor and final floor that Ray said "We'll set up near those windows, that'll give us the best vantage point of the shipping containers." pointing over at the other side of the office where the smashed windows had let in the snow and covered most of the office space with the white powder.

"What time does the smuggler arrive?" Aleks asked.

"Anytime between midday and midnight, The Drowned text him a time to show up." Ray answered.

"Too bad we can't get a fire going, my wings are freezing." Zoe moaned, programming her drones to watch the entrances of the building in case The Drowned showed up.

"This is nothing." Aleks replied, taking off his backpack "Back home I used to train in weather like this all the time."

"Well let's hope this smuggler shows up before our tails freeze off." Ray said, looking out the window at the ruins of the docklands and wondering where on earth The Drowned could be hiding.

000

"I feel kind of bad about leaving you guys behind." Nick said, fixing his bow tie as he walked into the living room of the family apartment.

"Why? We don't. Me, Kodi and the Blind Badass are happy right here." Robyn responded, she was sat on the sofa between Kodi and Hannah, mashing buttons on a console controller with Kodi mirroring her with his own controller.

"No offence Nick but being at a stuffy auction doesn't sound like a night of fun." Hannah threw in.

"Yeah my parents dragged me to enough of those things to put me off them for life."Kodi chimed in.

"Ok, ok; message received. Enjoy your video game marathon while I have to make another damn speech." Nick griped, looking at the small mirror on the wall to check how he looked in his tux (For the tenth time).

"Speeches were in the job description slick." A voice chuckled, Nick spun around to see Judy coming out of the hallway, garbed in her ceremonial police chief uniform which triggered a disappointed look on the fox's muzzle.

"I thought you were going to wear that dress I got you on Valentine's day." Nick said.

"I was but then Mason told me all the Cops present should be in uniform, I don't get a free pass cos' I'm married to the mayor." Judy explained.

"But you look so sexy in that dress." Nick pouted.

"Ewww." Robyn sounded in protested, not taking her eyes off the game on the TV.

"Prude." Judy teased her youngest kit "Anyway I thought you were a fan of dresses, Princess Robyn?"

"Mom!" Robyn squeaked with embarrassment.

"You never told us why you came home dressed like a Disney Princess." Nick digged, treasuring the bashful look on the teen's face.

"Please drop it." Robyn pleaded.

Nick was about to continue taunting Robyn but when he saw the clock on the wall read 7.11pm, he said "Aw crap, we're going to be late."

Judy took this as her cue to grab the car keys from the little bowl near the door and saying bye to the youngsters on the sofa "Call if you need anything, we should be home before midnight."

"Yeah Judy and I left some money on the kitchen counter, order some takeout." Nick added as he was hurried out the door by his wife.

"Have fun." Hannah replied.

"Drive safe." Robyn chimed in just as the front door was shutting.

After thirty seconds the three decided it was safe to talk, Kodi paused the video game, got out his phone, tap a few buttons and smiled "Showtime. I've just texted Olivia and Kion, they're on their way."

Robyn had gotten out her own phone and was reading a text while relaying "And Luna, the old farts and Sasha are already at the Opera House, all seems calm so far."

"I'm going to get changed." Hannah said, grabbing her rucksack and heading to the bathroom.

By the time Hannah had got changed into her Bullet guise and come back into the living room, Kodi and Olivia had arrived. "Damn Stripes, you're eager." Kion observed with a grin.

"I just want to get there as soon as we can, I've got this feeling in my gut that something's not right." Hannah fretted, her parents' safety the foremost in her thoughts.

"Don't worry, we're leaving soon." Olivia promised "Let's just go over our roles one more time; I'm going to be on air support, I'll be positioned a quarter of a mile away on top of a parking lot, it's the highest point for miles around so I'll be able to see anything coming."

"Hannah and I will be on the roof, next to the skylight above the ballroom, if shit goes down, we storm in and kick ass." Robyn grinned, cracking her knuckles.

"I'm at the back entrance, I'll stay hidden in the bushes but if anything happens, I'll transform and let out a roar as a signal." Kion informed.

"And that leaves me and Bella watching the front entrance from a side street, I'll use my wand to switch off any street lights near me so no one notices Bella." Kodi rounded off.

"Ok, let's suit up and head out." Olivia rallied.

000

The charity event officially started at 8pm, but Sasha had come early with her parents so she could take photos of the arriving guests and Luna had turned up early under the ruse that she was making sure that Treetail had made the amendments that she demanded, while Marian and Robin sr. pantomimed as the elderly and forgetful parents of the mayor who got the time wrong. Luckily, Commissioner Bogo was already there and let the couple in. It didn't take long for the former vigilantes to retrieve the weapons that were stashed in the bathrooms the day before, for Marian she had two telescopic batons identical to Robyn's, they weren't her trusty wooden ones from her days as The Maid but there was no way to conceal the old bulky weapons and it was likewise for Robin sr. who couldn't conceal his old bow or quiver in his suit so he had to make do with a tranq pistol and so did Luna.

"Ugh, I hate wearing posh frocks." Marian complained, supping from a bottle of beer "Give me a Clash t-shirt and my leather jacket any day."

"I think you look ravishing, my love." Robin sr. flirted, sticking to water as he was driving home.

"I look like a prat." Marian refused to believe her husband's flattery.

"It's just for tonight, Nana." Luna soothed, the vixen was dressed in a backless dark blue dress and wearing diamond earrings and a sapphire necklace she had inherited from her birth mother Victoria "Anyway we should split up, we won't spy much if we're all bunched together like this."

"I guess." Marian sighed, before walking off with Robin sr. in tow.

Just as the two retired vigilantes went across to the other side of the room, Luna was joined by Sasha, who stole a quick snap of the glamourous looking surgeon "That dress is gorgeous." She complimented.

"You look pretty yourself Sasha." Luna replied, admiring Sasha's peach coloured dress.

"Thanks." Sasha reacted shyly, focusing on her camera screen instead of her own bashfulness.

Luna eyed Sasha's camera and asked a question that had been bugging her for a while "Hey there's something I've been wanting to ask you; what's the deal with that camera?"

Sasha looked at the shorter mammal with actual surprise, folks tended not to ask about the camera because they thought it was a sensitive issue, which it was, but Sasha didn't mind talking about it with a friend "Well it helps with my anxiety, I used to have panic attacks all the time a few years ago." She opened.

"Can I ask how your panic attacks started?" Luna probed carefully.

"I was bullied a lot back in elementary school, not just verbally or pranks, a couple of the girls beat up on a few occasions." Sasha revealed.

"Oh my god, that's awful." Luna gasped, unable to comprehend why anyone would want to torment such a sweet kid.

"Well one I was going into one of the study rooms in the library and they jumped me; I don't remember much but that sense of being scared stuck with me." Sasha told "I ended up in hospital for a few days, but after that I started to develop my anxiety problems… I actually look back on my first panic attack and I think of how dumb it is."

"There is nothing dumb about it, you went through something traumatic." Luna spoke from experience "So what triggered your first attack?"

"I was getting discharged from the hospital, my Dad lifted me up and was going to carry me back to the car but when I saw the door to my room I just freaked; the last time I walked through a door I got beaten up and all that fear resurfaced." Sasha confided "I screamed, I cried, I scrambled out of my Dad's arms and leapt back on the bed…It took them ten minutes to calm me down, Mom had to open the door to show me that nothing bad was out there but from that moment I got scared wherever I went, I needed my family to open doors for me and check the coast was clear of bullies. I know it's an irrational fear but it's still there."

"Sasha, I'm so sorry." Luna sympathised.

"It's ok, I'm just lucky I had my family around me, especially Kodi. I remember about a few weeks after I was hospitalized he came running back from a garage sale with this old telescope, the kind a pirate would have, and handed it to me." Sasha remembered fondly"He said 'Now you'll be able to see trouble coming' and you know what it helped, it was like a coping mechanism, I'd carry the telescope everywhere and look around a room before entering it. Then a few months later Kodi suggested a camera might help, so he found this really old polaroid camera in the attic, this helped but I also discovered my talent for photography. It's stupid but when I observe the world through a lens it's less scary, I don't see things that can hurt me, I see stories and art…does that make sense?"

"It makes a lot of sense." Luna smiled.

Ninety minutes later the event was in full swing, the ballroom was getting quite full with Nick, Gazelle and Alana greeting the guests as the entered. The actual auction was set to begin at 9pm and many of Zootopia's richest citizens were chatting about what art they were going to bid on. Despite all the commotion, Luna's senses were on alert for anything amiss, her amber eyes traced the room for any threats; she saw Bianca and Bernard Gabor the philanthropic mice chatting with deputy mayor Alana Clearwater and her boyfriend Bailey, Judy, Wade, Jack and Skye seemed enthralled by a story Clawhauser was telling, Sasha was doing her rounds and taking pictures of the politicians and celebs and Nick was chatting with the State Governor Hector Candall, a white horse covered with black speckles. But when Luna saw who was approaching her father her stomach knotted with dread as she uttered "You've got to be kidding me."

"I've got to say Nick, you and Alana have really put this city back on track." Candall praised.

"All we've done is give some orders, it's normal zootopians that have helped this city." Nick corrected, finishing his drink and passing the empty glass to his bodyguard Ben, who just rolled his eyes and placed the glass on a passing waiter's tray.

"Come on, stop being modest," Candall played "as soon as the military takes care of The Drowned problem, I'm sure this city will be back to normal."

"Well actually my wife may have found a sol-" Nick began but was cut off by a jovial voice.

"Hector, you old bastard!" The voice greeted in a friendly but loud manner, Nick turned to see a sharp dressed moose coming towards him and the governor and hid his sour expression as Eustice Phelps sauntered over with a rather small white furred doe rabbit beside him, dressed in a typical bodyguard suit.

"Eustice, good to see you." Candall responded, patting the moose on the back "How's the gun business?"

"Doing good, it might be even better in November and you're promoted to the cabinet." Phelps hinted, nudging the stallion with his elbow.

"Now, now Phelps, we've still got a long way to go before the election, anyway tonight's not the night to be talking about defence contracts. We're here to raise some money for charity." Candall diverted.

"I agree, we should be honouring the dead and not talking about tools of death." Nick barbed.

Phelps and Candall both noticed the sly jibe but the moose was the first to blink "Ah, Mayor Wilde you're still new to this game, soon enough, you'll figure out that some of the biggest deals are made at shindigs like these."

"And as me and my deputy told you before, we're not interested in your deals." Nick threw back, causing a satisfied smile to appear on Ben's face and a concerned one to grow on the Governor's.

Before anything incriminating was said, Phelps cleared his throat before saying "You know what, I'm quite parched, I think I'll head to the bar." The moose then walked away with the small bunny beside him, keeping a close eye for any danger.

"Sir, if I may say, I think it may best if you take your seat at your table." Alice advised "It's positioned closest to the fire exit in case of escape."

"I wouldn't worry yet, Kirabito." Phelps huffed, propping his elbows on the bar and signalling the bartender to come over.

"What do you mean yet?" Alice asked, confused by the wording.

"I'm just saying you can relax for the moment, just be close to me when the auction starts." Phelps replied cryptically.

Alice was about to question further when she caught a familiar scent, she spun to her left and saw the pissed off face of her lover ten feet down the bar. Alice calmly walked over and leant on the bar but looked the other way so it didn't look like she was conversing with the vixen "What are you doing here?" she asked, her tone peaceful but inside, alarm bells were going off, this whole situation seemed off.

"I'm one of the richest mammals in the city, of course I'm here." Luna gave an angry whisper "Care to explain why you're here?"

"Got a bodyguard job, I'm protecting that moose over there." Alice nodded at her employer "I'm guessing you're not just here for the auction, seeing as you have that Tranq gun in your purse."

"How did…" Luna began to ask but Alice cut in quickly.

"I can smell the tranquilizers, I'm used to the smell." The doe bunny explained quickly.

"Are you carrying a gun?" Luna asked, noticing the bulge in Alice's black blazer.

"Of course, it's actually made of plastic making it a breeze to get through metal detectors." Alice replied before flicking her wrist and showing a thin acupuncture-like needle "And all my paralysing needles are carbon fibre anyway."

"Listen I think it's best if we avoid each other, just go back over to your employer and I'll see you tomorrow night." Luna whispered, wanting to end the conversation and go back to her mission.

"Until tomorrow then." Alice bid farewell while slipping the needle back up her sleeve before strolling away adding "You look beautiful by the way."

"…So do you." Luna found herself whispering as watched the rabbit return to her client.

000

A quarter of a mile away, atop of a multi-storied parking lot, Spitfire was perched on a ledge, looking over at the main road in and out of the meadowlands district. She figured that if The Drowned were going to come from anywhere, it'd be by the main road junction, but the intersection seemed normal, with the standard amount of traffic for that time of night. She was about to radio Luna to see if things were quiet at the Opera House when she heard a shattering of glass and the thud of metal; the unmistakeable sound of a car crash but soon enough the sound came again and again and again. Spitfire looked to the east and used the mech's built in binoculars to see what the hell was going on "Oh, Bollocks." She cursed as she laid her eyes upon the oncoming threat, a Bulldozer with an elephant at the wheel was ploughing through the streets followed by two armoured vehicles that looked like troop carriers. Spitfire quickly spoke into her comm "We got Drowned coming from the east down Grazer Avenue!"

" **Guys I just spotted two armoured trucks coming west from Albreto road, I'm pursuing now!" Mage's panicked voice came over the radio.**

"It's a pincer attack, Roar get to the front of the Opera house, stop that Bulldozer!" Spitfire commanded as she took to the skies "Luna get word to the cops at the front of the building!"

" **On it."** Luna replied.

" **Um, did anyone just notice all the waiters left?"** Sasha's unsure voice asked over the comm, cementing fear in the Team's hearts.

Back at the Opera House everyone was seated at their tables as Gazelle began to host the auction, not noticing Luna and Sasha race across the ballroom towards Judy. "Good evening ladies and gentlemammals tonight we are here tonight because of a disaster that has ravaged our beautiful city…" Gazelle spoke through the mic to enraptured crowd, unaware of the danger they were in.

Luna and Sasha made it to Judy and Nick's table where Ben, Jack and Skye were also sat. Judy saw her eldest daughter rushing to her but before she could say a word Luna blurted out "There's Drowned at the front of Opera House, we need to evacuate!"

"What? What the hell you talking about?" Judy reacted, subconsciously putting her hand on her holstered tranq pistol.

"Kiddo?" Nick gawped, looking around for any danger, Ben had heard this to and was scouting around too.

"How do you know this?" Jack asked, the striped rabbit signalling for Bogo and Clawhauser to come over.

"Look we don't have time, we need to-" Luna insisted but was halted by Skye who rose to her feet and reached for her gun.

"Kitchen doors!" Skye hollered levelling her gun as she saw one of the waiters throw two smoke grenades into the ballroom, she fired two shots that missed, but the sound of the shots sent the ballroom into pandemonium and the subsequent explosion of the smoke bombs only fuelled the panic and mayhem, screams and gunfire filled the air as Luna instinctively took hold of Sasha's hoof and made her shelter under the table.

Through the haze of smoke and mammals trying to rush for the exits Judy could see multiple figures start to pour out of the kitchen, all dressed as serving staff and wielding machine guns, she had got her tranq pistol but couldn't get a clear shot. But through all the chaos the distinct sound of a window pane smashing made Judy look up, Scarlet jumped through the smashed skylight with Bullet in her arms. Even through the smoke Judy could see the distinct red of Scarlet's uniform, as the vigilante landed she kicked a cultist otter in the jaw before twirling and freeing Bullet from her arms. Judy focused her acute hearing on the two heroines to listen in if they had a plan, their voices were distorted by their modifiers but Judy could clearly hear what they said.

"Nice moves." Bullet joked.

"You're not the only dancer on the team, Blind Badass." Scarlet bantered before launching herself into attacking the closest Drowned cultist she could lay her paws on.

Judy felt like her heart stopped for a moment, despite all the violence and anarchy going on around her the police chief's mind went blank, her eyes went wide as she replayed the conversation in her head. Blind Badass, she had heard that silly nickname so many times before, it was the pet name of Hannah and she was only called it by one other mammal "Robyn?" Judy whispered, feeling nothing except fear.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Judy knows! On the next chapter of SOC... y'know what? No spoilers for next week. I'll just leave you with the cliffhanger. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review and C YA SOON...)


	36. The Opera House

(AN/ Hey folks it's Crewefox/Garouge here with another chapter of SOC. Thank you to everyone who liked, followed, faved, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. And a massive thank you to the SOC dev team who helped craft and beta red this chapter. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 35- The Opera House**

"You're not the only dancer on the team, Blind Badass." Scarlet bantered before launching herself into attacking the closest Drowned cultist she could lay her paws on.

Judy felt like her heart stopped for a moment. Despite all the violence and anarchy going on around her, the police chief's mind went blank, her eyes went wide as she replayed the conversation in her head. Blind Badass, she had heard that silly nickname so many times before, it was the pet name of Hannah and she was only called it by one other mammal "Robyn?" Judy whispered, feeling nothing except fear.

"Judy!" Nick alerted, the police chief looked at her husband, whose face was stern and serious "We need to get these mammals out of here."

Judy glanced back at Scarlet and uttered "But…"

"Judy they can handle it! We need to get this place evacuated!" Nick yelled over the gunfire.

Judy's heart was chained down by fear and confusion of what she had just learnt, but she knew now wasn't the time to address it, she had a sworn duty to protect the mammals of Zootopia and right now they were in mortal danger. "Right." Judy nodded, un-holstering her tranq pistol.

But before another word was said a guttural holler of "Die! came from behind Judy, out of the smoke came a mongoose wielding a machete ready to tear through Judy but before he got a step further a bullet coursed right between his eyes.

Nick and Judy looked to where the shot had come from and found Ben, Nick's bodyguard, gripping a smoking pistol. The Dingo then looked at Nick and asked "Am I right to assume you won't let me escort you to your car?"

"I'm not leaving while mammals are still in danger." Nick stated firmly.

Ben reached into his blazer and produced a second, smaller handgun and passed it to his boss "I figured you'd say that." He spoke.

Nick inspected the gun briefly before flicking off the safety and saying "Thanks Ben."

In the all the chaos that was surrounding the ballroom, the added noise of the fire door alarm suddenly blaring into life went unnoticed by many but not Jack Savage, the buck rabbit noticed the alarm straight away and looked towards the fire exit in hope of seeing mammals fleeing the carnage but instead witnessed the worrying sight of gun toting cultists dragging some auction guests away. "Damn it, they're taking hostages outside!" He shouted over his own gunfire, he managed to down a female Okapi cultist with a shot to the chest.

"The bastards must want them for one of their execution videos." Skye figured, before looking at Luna and remembering "Wait didn't you say there were Drowned at the front of the Opera House too?"

"Yes, I overheard something about armoured trucks." Luna lied, who was trying her best to keep Sasha calm and focused.

"Then we're trapped from both sides, we're going to have to hold our ground until back up arrives." Skye proposed.

At that moment Bogo and Clawhauser dove behind the table next door. The cheetah spotted Judy and shouted "I just radioed the cops out front, the Drowned are trying to ram the entrance!"

"Spitfire, Mage and Roar are assisting but I don't know how long they can hold them off, if they storm the front entrance we're toast." Bogo added, equally as loud but with a lot more fury in his tone.

"Wait!" Nick gasped suddenly "Where are my parents?"

"Um, right there." Jack answered, pointing to the entrance of the Ball room where through the smoke the shapes of two figures clashing with Drowned could be made out, one was switching between hand to hand combat and firing a Tranq pistol while the other was using two nightsticks to pummel the enemy. "I can hear their voices, it's them."

"How the hell did they sneak those weapons in!?" Nick flapped.

"Worry about that later." Skye barked, shooting and killing another cultist while eyeing Scarlet and Bullet continuing to battle "Lucky for us, those freaks are on our sides."

"Yeah…" Judy replied so quietly that no one heard her over the mayhem.

In the centre of the room, Scarlet jumped up and headbutted a Tamaraw, knocking the bovine down to the floor with a thud. The red clad heroine then charged at a Maned Wolf whose assault rifle was jammed. In desperation the maned wolf used the rifle in a melee fashion and swung it at the hybrid. Scarlet dived at the last moment and skidded on the marble kicking the maned wolf's feet from under him, once he landed on the floor, Scarlet delivered a single knockout blow to the canine's jaw.

Bullet was flipping and spinning around to shake off the Drowned's aim, as machine gun fire rang out the heroic gunslinger danced around in the rain of projectiles with elegance, feeling the whoosh of air from the speeding bullets as they narrowly missed her body. She sensed the shape of a dead cultist's assault rifle on the floor six feet away and a plan quickly formed in her head. Bullet cartwheeled to her right and on her second spin picked up the rifle with one paw then proceeded to shoot three cultists in their forearms, causing them to drop their guns. Once she heard their cries of pain and their guns clatter to the ground she dropped the machine gun and produced her own handguns and sent three sleeper gel shots into their heads.

"Bullet!" Scarlet called out, Bullet didn't need to turn around to detect where her beloved was "Squall manoeuvre!"

"Got it!" Bullet acknowledged, she ran towards Scarlet with gunfire erupting around them, Bullet leapt into Scarlet's arms, the red clad heroine held the Gunslinger like a dancing partner and proceeded to dip her before throwing her twelve feet into the air. As Bullet spun through the air, she fired shot after shot in a serene storm of gunfire, each sleeper gel bullet finding it's mark. As Bullet descended down with the grace of an angel she was caught in the arms of her girlfriend who was wearing a broad smile under her mask.

"I think that's all of them." Scarlet noted.

"Let's head to the front to help-" Bullet began.

"Wait, the Drowned took some hostages through the fire exit!" Sasha shouted out to the heroines.

"Shit." Scarlet hissed before running for the fire exit.

"Thanks for the heads up." Bullet chirped, racing to join Scarlet. As Judy watched the pair head out the door all of the adrenaline of the moment washed away and now she was left with a sense of despair coupled with a simmering anger. When the dust had settled, she was going to get to the bottom of this.

FIVE MINUTES EARLIER….

Kion transformed into Roar while in mid run, once he had bolted from the bushes near the parking lot, the lion's golden fur bleached into a snowy white that covered the titan like form of the hero, he raced around the building and was met with the image of an elephant sized bulldozer ploughing parked cars out of the way and heading straight for the entrance of the Opera house meaning to ram it open. Roar jumped in front of the oncoming dozer and dug his paws into the giant vehicle's blade, Roar slowed the bulldozer a down only a little bit, his feet claws scratched against the concrete, this was the first time since his training that his strength had been tested. Roar could handle around 74 tons when Olivia initially tested his strength but this bulldozer was well over 150 tons, his muscles ached as he tried to force it back but try as he might it just kept on coming, Roar looked over his shoulder and could see the cops getting in defensive positions through the glass doors. The cops wouldn't stand a chance against the bulldozer, they'd be crushed under its tracks, there was no way to push it back. Then an idea popped into his head, it had a slim chance of succeeding but he had to try. Roar released his paws from the blade and jumped to his left out of the way of the massive machine before letting out a snarl and charging at the side of the bulldozer and ramming his shoulder into it with all the strength he could muster, the dozer crashed onto its side with a massive rumble finally ending its path of destruction. Roar scrambled onto the upturned vehicle with the intention of grabbing the bull elephant driving it and knocking him out but as soon as he reached the driver's cab of the dozer a hail of machine gun fire hit the lion, the shock and the force of impact from the troop carriers' mounted heavy machine guns sent Roar falling to the concrete with a pained wail, he could make out the chilling emblem of the Drowned sprayed onto the sides of the military vehicles.

"Roar, get to cover!" A mechanized voice boomed, through his pain Roar raised his head to see Spitfire land on top of one of the troop carriers before grabbing the end of the machine gun and bending it upwards, making it useless. The other troop carrier stopped firing and cultists began to stream out of the two armoured vehicles and started shooting at Spitfire and Roar. Spitfire aimed her tranq dart launchers at the armed Drowned cultists in retaliation but before she could fire she was hit in the back with something which exploded a nanosecond later, the mech fell to the ground beside the downed Roar, who was still trying to recover from the barrage of bullets. Spitfire looked to the direction where the explosive had come from and saw two more troops carriers but these had mounted grenade launchers instead of heavy machine guns "Bollocks." Spitfire cursed, struggling back to her feet, while shooting a few cultists with her darts.

And then something unexpected happened, the two troop carriers aimed their grenade launchers at one another before firing, destroying both weapons "What the?" Roar breathed, rising to his feet.

"Abracadabra, bitches." A familiar voice chuckled, The Mage then came from out behind the troop carriers twirling his wand in his hand, the cultists then began to exit the incapacitated vehicles triggering Mage to whisper "Evanescet." causing the light around him to bend, making him invisible. The two dozen newly emerged cultists ran for the entrance, wanting to avoid Spitfire and Roar who were back on their feet and fighting but a trio of gold cards were thrown among before bursting with a blinding light, some of the cultists dropped their weapons while others tripped over one another, Mage took advantage of their disorientation and threw six tazer cards at the Drowned still holding onto their guns.

All of a sudden the sound of an old diesel engine and the screeching of tires caught the Mage's attention, he turned around half expecting to find a vehicle coming towards him and wanting to ram the entrance but instead saw an old food truck speeding out of the parking lot.

"Hostages!" Someone yelled out of the blue, Mage looked to where the voice had come from and saw Bullet and Scarlet sprinting out from around the corner "The Drowned kidnapped a bunch of mammals and put them in that truck!" Bullet panted.

"I'll go after them, Bella can catch up to that piece of junk!" Mage reacted, already running back towards his pickup truck, throwing sleeper cards at a few cultists as he ran.

"I'll come with you," Spitfire responded, activating her mech's boosters and taking to the air "Bullet, Scarlet help Roar keep these freaks out of the opera house!"

"Roger." Scarlet replied, getting out her telescopic night stick and slamming it into a brown bear's knees.

"Be safe!" Bullet warned, producing her pistols and starting to take cultists down.

Spitfire was already flying off in pursuit of the food truck by the time Mage and Bella made it out of the parking lot. It didn't take long for Spitfire to find the food truck. The white painted vehicle was driving erratically down the streets of the meadowlands, swerving and overtaking any cars in front of them. Spitfire activated her thermal imaging visor and instantly saw the heat signatures of six mammals sat on the floor of the truck, with two mammals stood up and aiming rifles at the hostages as well as two more mammals in the front of the truck. "Found the hostages, they're alive for now, the truck is heading east towards the north Tundra Town tunnel." Spitfire radioed Mage.

" **I see it!"** Mage's voice crackled over the comms. Spitfire turned off her thermal vision and looked behind her to see Bella speeding towards the food truck, manoeuvring between the other vehicles on the busy stretch of road. " **So what's the plan?"**

"We can't damage the truck because of the hostages, we need to slow it down or bring it to a complete stop before we can rescue the hostages." Spitfire relayed, trying to form a strategy.

" **I got an idea."** Mage replied with confidence. The wolf put his foot down and accelerated towards the white rusted food truck, emblazoned with'Artic Arnie's Catering Services' and a cartoon polar bear winking beside the wording. "Let's find the off switch." Mage grinned, aiming his wand at the engine but when he looked at the engine through the HUD in his domino mask he saw no on board computers, this truck was so old it was didn't have any technology that Mage could manipulate with his wand "Crap." He seethed. Without warning, the serving window of the food truck opened to reveal two cultists, one of them a hippo in a grey robe, holding petrol bombs in their hands "Double crap!" Mage exclaimed, he didn't have enough time to react as the petrol bombs were slung from the food truck and at Bella, one of them smashed against the driver door while the other hit the hood of the car engulfing the Star of Ceartais in flames "Shit, shit, shit." Mage cursed thrice.

" **Activating fire response protocol."** Bella's voice came from the sound system before a plume of CO2 mist bellowed from where the windshield washer water came from, covering the car in the white mist.

"Bella I can't see where I'm driving!" Mage freaked.

" **Don't fret Mage, I will drive until the fire is extinguished."** Bella assured.

" **Mage, you ok?"** Spitfire asked with urgency over the comm link.

"I'm fine but I can't turn off the truck's engine, it's too old for tech." Mage answered, trying to come up with a new tactic.

" **Ok, I have a plan, I'm pretty sure these guys are heading for the north Tundra Town tunnel, I'll head there and try and make a blockade."** Spitfire informed **"You keep on their tail and tell me if they change course."**

"Gotcha'." Mage acknowledged.

Spitfire, could already see the tunnel a half a mile away, she powered up her boosters and jetted towards the tunnel entrance. Thankfully this tunnel was barely used since The Wave due to most of Tundra Town being in ruins, there were no cars around so it'd be easier to stop the food truck, she spied two tall powerline poles and her plan came together. Spitfire flew down to the power line on the left side of the road, the mech's hands gripped the pole and…

CRUNCH!

Olivia's pilot compartment began blaring with alarms and flashed with red lights with a barrage of messages flashed up on screen such as 'Armour breach!', 'Rear Thrusters Fail!' and 'Mech Integrity 53%'. Olivia looked through Spitfire's camera feed in its head and gasped when saw a pair of huge white paws around the waist of the mech "Oh god no." she uttered.

Spitfire was then lifted up and slammed into the ground by a massive force, cracking the road as a result. Spitfire looked up to see the rage filled face of Kiara Priderock, the once decorated soldier known wearing a tunic showcasing the emblem of The Drowned. "Fuck." Spitfire spoke, the synthesised voice unable to convey the fear of the engineer piloting the mech.

"You will not stop us, we are doing the Wave's will." Kiara snarled, before stomping her huge foot on the legs of Spitfire with such force that they crumpled like a soda can.

Spitfire reacted by activating her super heated lasers from the mech's eyes and firing it Kiara's face, the feline let out a howl of pain before swiping down and tearing the head off with one clean swipe.

Despite the head being gone, Spitfire's back up audio output implored "Kiara stop!"

Kiara hesitated a little upon hearing the name, the name she was called during her nightmare but shook off the thought and growled "My name is Lilly!" She then heard the sound of approaching vehicles, she saw the Food Truck her Drowned brethren had told her about but could also see Mage behind the wheel of his pickup truck, she recognised the wolf from when she was attacked at the bridge and bellowed "You will not stop us!" She then lifted up what remained of Spitfire and tore the lower half off before hurling the arms and torso at Bella.

The wrecked mech struck the bulletproof windshield and bounced off leaving only a crack, Bella screeched to a halt and Mage got out the pick up immediately and dashed towards the trashed mech suit "Spitfire!" Mage screamed, barely registering the food truck as it escaped through the tunnel and that a second larger truck parked up to allow Kiara to get in.

"M-m-ech inte-grity at 1.4%." Spitfire's synthesised voice stuttered while Kiara escaped.

"Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok." Mage repeated, on the verge of tears.

Suddenly the chest plate of the mech popped off with a hiss of compressed air before clattering on the road, exposing the pilot "Hellfire, that hurt." Olivia groaned.

"Oh thank god." Mage breathed as he reached in and lifted Olivia out, cradling the battered mouse in his paw. "You ok?"

"A little roughed up but I'll live." Olivia winced, taking off her neural link helmet.

"So are we going after them?" Mage asked, his heart hammering from the leftover adrenaline in his system.

"No…" Olivia replied with shame "We wouldn't last five seconds against Lilly."

"Who's Lilly?" Mage asked with a worried tone.

000

The ZPD back up had arrived just as Scarlet, Bullet and Roar had defeated the last of the cultists. As cops and ambulance crews swarmed the Opera House, the three heroes took stock of the damage done; four civilians dead and twelve injured, three cops injured and six hostages taken to god knows where by The Drowned. Even though they had beaten nearly fifty members of The Drowned, this was very much a defeat. Bullet, who had been having a conversation over the comm link while her and Roar were helping the cops put the cultists into paddy wagons, walked over to her teammates with a sombre look on her muzzle "Guys." She simply said, signalling them to come closer.

"Something wrong?" Roar enquired, lowering his volume in case police officers eavesdropped.

"The Drowned in the food truck got away." Bullet informed with a sad tone.

"Oh come on!" Scarlet barked with frustration "How the hell did that happen?"

"Scarlet, please." Bullet hushed "Spitfire's suit was destroyed."

"Oh my god." Scarlet gasped, her frustration quickly replaced by worry.

"Is she ok?" Roar asked, the giant cat's face displaying his concern.

"Yeah Mage is with her, she's a little bruised but she'll be fine." Bullet eased their worries "But…"

"But what?" Roar questioned, knowing the hybrid gunslinger was hesitant about something.

"It was Kiara who got Spitfire, she nearly killed her." Bullet answered, feeling awful for telling Roar this news.

"Kiara? She…" Roar started but he was rendered speechless by this harrowing fact.

"I'm so sorry Roar." Bullet spoke with empathy.

"We can still save her." Scarlet offered some hopeful words before turning to Bullet and asking "So where are Mage and Spitfire now?"

"They're waiting for one of Spitfire's spare mech suits to fly in from The Bunker then they're heading back here to search for anything that may lead to us to the Drowned's location." Bullet replied.

"Excuse me." A voice cut in, the three heroes turned to see Judy looking up at them.

"Good evening Chief Wilde." Roar greeted politely, wanting to mask his emotions.

This was the first time Judy had come across Roar, she looked up at the enormous Lion with a slight wonder before saying "I was hoping I could have a word with the three of you."

"You going to arrest us?" Scarlet half joked, remembering all of her mother's threats to her teammates.

"Nothing like that," Judy waved off "the mayor, the MCB and I want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Bullet asked with curiosity.

"It's better if we talk in private, you never know who's listening." Judy answered, walking back into the Opera house while beckoning the heroes to follow her.

The three friends shared a shrug before following the bunny inside, Bullet felt odd walking in silence so she said sincerely "We're sorry we couldn't stop the Drowned."

"Out of curiosity, how did you know they would attack?" Judy asked with a serious voice.

"It seemed like the perfect opportunity for them, we were on guard outside just in case something like this happened." Roar replied.

"You could've told the ZPD your suspicions." Judy responded, sounding a little jaded.

"We didn't have anything concrete to support of suspicions and no offence but the ZPD has more leaks than a sinking ship." Scarlet gave her opinion.

Judy had her back to the heroes so they couldn't see the frown on the doe's face but a hint of bitterness could be heard as she replied "I understand, trust is in short supply these days."

Judy led the three down a corridor and to a meeting room where Ben was stood outside on sentry duty "Well if it ain't the heroes of the hour, you lot saved our arses tonight." Ben said happily to the heroes.

"But we couldn't save everyone." Bullet couldn't help but say.

Before Ben could respond to the grim words Judy ordered "Make sure we're not disturbed Ben."

"Aye' Ma'am." Ben nodded, opening the door large enough for an elephant to pass through.

In the meeting room Luna was chatting with her father while Jack and Skye were exchanging harsh words with Robin senior and Marian. "I want to know how you got those weapons passed the security checkpoint." Skye demanded.

"Skye dear, we used to be master thieves, it was easy." Marian tried to charm.

"Give me a straight answer." Skye forced.

"What I want to know is why you brought the weapons?" Jack poised the real question.

"We had a gut feeling this whole night was going to go tits up, so we brought insurance." Robin sr. told a half truth.

"Ahem," Judy cleared her throat, grabbing everyone's attention "I believe we have something to discuss with Ceartais."

Nick's green eyes went wide with wonder as he looked at the three super heroes "Whoa." He uttered, the fox had encountered Spitfire before but had never been face to face with other members of the super team.

"Um, hi." Roar greeted awkwardly as Ben closed the door behind him.

Judy read the room; Jack and Skye's expression matched Nick's amazed face as they looked at the heroes, Luna just looked worried but most disturbingly Robin Sr. and Marian looked calm, almost like they weren't bothered by the sight of these super powered mammals. _They know_ Judy thought, the realisation causing more anger to seep into her mind. But she would have to deal with her in-laws later, right now she needed to confirm her fears.

"Well, I really hoped we'd meet under better circumstances." Nick opened, walking over to the trio.

"Likewise, Mayor." Bullet concurred.

"Will your teammates be joining us? I was really hoping to discuss this with them as well." Nick asked, offering a hand shake to Bullet, who of course obliged.

"Spitfire and The Mage will be back shortly." Roar answered, shaking Nick's paw as well.

"But what about Andraste?" Nick questioned with curiosity in his voice.

"Food poisoning," Scarlet fibbed with ease while shaking her father's paw "she ate some bad fish tacos and has had the runs all day." The red clad heroine taking a little joy from the irked expression on Luna's face.

"Oh…what a shame." Nick reacted, not expecting such a vivid answer.

Judy looked at Scarlet and took note of her body language, her poise was relaxed and her attention was completely on Nick, she wasn't expecting an attack. Judy knew she had one shot at doing this, but as soon as she did her family would be in tatters, but she couldn't let this slide, this secret was too big to keep. Judy took a couple of soft steps to the right side of Scarlet, her hood was up enough just to block her peripheral vision, it was now or never. Judy shot both her paws forward and in a heartbeat her left paw pulled down Scarlet's hood causing to long lapin ears to spring up while her right paw tore off the scarf that covered the heroine's muzzle.

"Judy, what ar-" Nick began to yell but his voice failed him when he saw the true face of Scarlet.

Judy stood in front of the unmasked heroine with a look sheer outrage in her amethyst eyes "I didn't want to believe it." She said through gritted teeth.

Robyn Heather Wilde stood there petrified by her mother's glare, ignoring the gasps and looks of alarm around the room, all she could see was the anger in Judy's face, the girl's mind was a mess of fright as she said "Mom I can explain…"

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The secret is out! How will everyone react? What will happen? What did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Ok so there is not going to be a update next monday because I have an huge university assignment due that week so I'm afraid you lovely folks will get the next chapter on Christmas eve or on Boxing Day. Next time on SOC, the team deals with their secret being exposed, families ties are torn to shreds and Camelot's mission takes a turn for the worse. Please Review and C YA SOON...p.s Merry Christmas everybody)


	37. The Hustle

(AN/ Quick update cos it's xmas eve and I've got to get back to my hometown so a big thank you to everyone who has suppourted this fic this year you are all awesome. A big thank you to Senny and Colby who helped write the second half of this chapter and thanks to the dev team who beta'd this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 36 – The Hustle**

Judy looked at Scarlet and took note of her body language, her poise was relaxed and her attention was completely on Nick, she wasn't expecting an attack. Judy knew she had one shot at doing this, but as soon as she did her family would be in tatters, but she couldn't let this slide, this secret was too big to keep. Judy took a couple of soft steps to the right side of Scarlet, her hood was up enough just to block her peripheral vision, it was now or never. Judy shot both her paws forward and in a heartbeat her left paw pulled down Scarlet's hood causing to long lapin ears to spring up while her right paw tore off the scarf that covered the heroine's muzzle.

"Judy, what are-" Nick began to yell but his voice failed him when he saw the true face of Scarlet.

Judy stood in front of the unmasked heroine with a look sheer outrage in her amethyst eyes "I didn't want to believe it." She said through gritted teeth.

Robyn Heather Wilde stood there petrified by her mother's glare, ignoring the gasps and looks of alarm around the room, all she could see was the anger in Judy's face, the girl's mind was a mess of fright as she said, "Mom I can explain…"

"Oh god…" Jack mumbled from across the room, his and Skye's expressions both conveying shock. Luna, Marian and Robin sr. looked at each other with alarm, not knowing what to do next.

"I was such an idiot; how did I never notice?" Judy berated herself, her fury filled eyes still locked on her youngest daughter.

"Let's all calm down, ok?" Robyn tried to appease, taking off her voice modifier collar, returning her voice to her normal albeit nervous Californian accent.

"No!" Judy snapped "Now is not the time for me to be calm, I want answers! Now!"

Robyn flinched upon hearing her mother's sharp tone, Judy rarely got angry but when she did it scared the hell out of Robyn. Nick on the other hand appeared paralysed with the revelation, his body still as a statute with only his mouth moving to quietly say "No, no, no…"

"Chief Wilde, please just sit down and let's talk about this." Bullet offered, trying to figure out a solution to this situation and coming up with none.

"Don't act like this some casual chat," Judy simmered, looking up at Bullet "the jig is up **Hannah.** " Deliberately emphasising Bullet's real name causing another ripple of shock to wash through the room.

"Hannah? That isn't Hannah." Skye scoffed with complete denial "She can't be Bullet."

"Skye." Jack said simply, taking hold of his wife's paw. There was zero denial in the mind of the buck bunny, looking at the masked vigilante's body language and remembering how she moved like a ballerina in the gun battle not half an hour before the facts were stacking up.

"She's not-" Robyn tried to protect her girlfriend's identity but was stopped by Judy's stern voice.

"I heard you call her Blind Badass during that gunfight," Judy cut down, pointing her long lapin ears "it's your pet name for Hannah."

"Damn it." Robyn cursed herself for being so careless, that mistake would cost the team and the city dearly. Her ginger ears went droopy as the worry and fear set in.

Before Bullet could comfort her love Jack approached his daughter and commanded in strained voice "Little one, take that mask off."

Bullet felt like she was five years old again and she was being put in time out, even though Jack was a lot shorter than her the teen couldn't help but feel intimidated, she reached up to her domino mask to reveal her beautiful yet still eyes. As soon as Skye saw Hannah's eyes all hope of her daughter's innocence disappeared, her knees went weak and she stumbled forward feeling faint, Jack noticed this and rushed over to steady his distressed vixen. Hannah unclipped her voice modifier and set it down on the table next to her mask "Look I know this is a shock but-" she began.

"How long?" Jack demanded.

"How long, what?" Hannah asked back.

"How long has it been since you've had your sight back?" Jack clarified, still helping Skye steady herself.

"It hasn't, I'm still blind." Hannah answered, feeling hurt by the accusation.

Before Jack could press further Skye stuttered "B-but your stripes, where are your beautiful stripes?"

"They're covered up by a white spray." Bullet quickly answered, torn between going over to comfort her mother or girlfriend.

Judy was determined not to get lost in the drama, her anger was keeping her mind focused but just as she about to continue her interrogation she noticed a fretted Roar, nervously extending and retracting his claws. It was a tick that Judy had witnessed before in a much smaller lion, a lion she had known since he was four years old and decided to call him out on it "Kion, didn't your Mom tell you that's a bad habit?" she smarmed.

Roar stopped messing with his claws immediately and let out an awkward "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

"Unless you want me to call your parents I suggest you come clean with us now." Judy threatened.

Roar looked to his friends for any signal of what to do next, but Hannah and Robyn looked lost while Luna looked on at her sister with worry. Roar let out a sigh before transforming back to normal, amazing those who had never seen this transformation before, the lion shrunk back down to normal height leaving him only with his naturally gifted muscles and his regular gold coloured fur. "God damn it, Kion." Judy hissed, pulling on her ears with stress. The doe bunny took a breath before aiming her next assumption at Robyn "I'm going to assume The Mage is a certain wolf your friends with."

"Mom please." Robyn reacted, her bottom lip quivering as tears threatened to fall from her navy eyes.

Suddenly Nick seemed to snap out of his daze, as if some revelation had struck his brain like a lightning bolt, he looked over at his parents with absolute ire and growled "You did this didn't you? This is your doing." Then began marching to his parents who were bracing themselves for Nick's rage.

But before Nick could reach the elder Wildes his way was blocked by Luna "Dad go back over to Mom before you do something rash." Luna cautioned.

"Out of my way kiddo." Nick snarled trying to manoeuvre around his eldest child.

"You're going to do something stupid so I'm not going to let you." Luna informed, trying to be the voice of reason.

Nick then barged by Luna and pulled back his fist, aiming a punch at his old man, but before he could launch he grabbed by the wrist and had it twisted behind his back before having his face forced down on the table. It was a classic restraining move but Nick was shocked to see Luna holding him down "I did warn you." Luna said.

"Luna, let him go!" Judy said firmly, stomping over to the father and daughter.

"…As you wish." Luna replied reluctantly, carefully releasing Nick, making sure to stand in front of Robin sr. and Marian.

Judy looked like she about to launch another verbal tirade but instead said to her eldest girl "You know what I'm going to ask, so just save us some trouble and confess."

Luna concluded there was no longer any point in trying to deceive her parents or the Savages but she refused to appear intimidated even though she was, she crossed her arms across her chest and admitted "I'm Andraste."

"Oh, you've got be shitting me!" Nick vented, wondering if could leap over the table and throttle his dad before Luna could catch him.

"I want to know everything," Judy affirmed looking between her two daughters before walking to Robin sr. and Marian "but first I want to hear you two confess your part in this."

Marian stepped forward and breathed "…We did it, look we never meant to-"

 **WHACK!**

Marian fell back and was caught by Robin senior, Judy had to jump up but she delivered a sucker punch with all the strength she could muster, blood erupted from Marian's nose as the sound of the strike masked the crunching sound of cartilage and bone breaking in the vixen's nose. Marian was surprised by the hit but didn't react in anger instead she got to her feet and said with a blood covered muzzle "I deserved that."

"My girls! You dragged my girls into your fucking world!?" Judy exploded, not caring her right fist was streaked with her mother-in-law's blood "How many lives are you going to ruin Marian!?"

"It's not that simple Judy." Robin sr. tried to explain, producing a handkerchief from his blazer and passing it to Marian, who instantly put it to her broken nose.

"You're both going to jail," Skye spoke, sounding dazed and upset "I have to bring you in."

"Whoa hold up, we haven't even talked about this." Hannah spoke up.

"What's there to talk about?" Nick snapped "Those two forced all of you to become vigilantes!" Nick was actually crying angry tears as he added "I've already buried three sons, I won't bury my daughters."

Robyn's fear was diminishing and was getting replaced with frustration at her parents and Jack and Skye's reaction towards her grandparents "You really think it was that simple? Me, Hannah and Kodi were already taking on Razors before they brought us in."

"Stop talking right now, young lady, you have no idea of the danger you're in. Besides you're already in a world of trouble." Judy threatened, pointing a finger at Robyn.

"Trouble? You want to know about trouble?" Robyn asked back with venom, before walking over to Luna, outstretching her paw and requesting "Give me a dagger."

"You sure?" Luna asked, sounding unsure.

"I want to show them how much 'trouble' I've been through." Robyn stated, Luna gave an anxious look as she reached into her purse and pulled out one of her daggers and placed it in her baby sister's paw.

Robyn turned around to face the confused faces of her parents and the Savages and before the four adults could ask what she was going to do her hand shot up and with you swift motion she slashed her own throat causing blood to cascade down herself and onto the wood of the table.

"ROBYN!" Nick and Judy screamed in unison.

Nick and Judy went to run to their child's aid but were held back by Kion "Just wait." He implored.

Robyn imbedded the dagger in the table top, then as fast as the blood started to flow it ceased and the wound closed not even leaving a scar as Robyn looked at her parents and the Savage's reactions; Judy's jaw had actually dropped and her eyes were wide with both fright and wonder, Nick was breathing heavily and clutching his paw to his racing heart. Jack eyes had narrowed as if he was trying to figure out a magician's trick, while Skye had fallen back into a chair with a horrified look on her face. With the adults finally silenced Robyn informed "I've been shot countless times, had my eyeball pierced by a shuriken, poisoned and stabbed so many times I've lost count; they don't call me The Undying Scarlet for nothing. I've got the strength of rhino, I can jump higher than any mammal and I have faced the worst that mammal kind has to offer. And I'm not the only one." Robyn unsheathed the dagger from it's oak table sheath before throwing it just to the right of Hannah's face, safe in the knowledge her girlfriend's reflexes would kick in.

Hannah caught the blade by it's handle just as is was passing by her face, the smell of the blood on the blade was overpowering "You could've cleaned this, princess." She noted.

"How did you catch that?" Skye asked with astonishment.

"I can sense it, like static, that's my power…well not only that; my reflexes and senses have been heightened too." Hannah explained, terrified of what her parents would think.

"And well, you've seen what my power is." Kion added in an awkward manner.

Judy shook off her disbelief of what she just witnessed, she needed to get this conversation back on track, she looked at Luna and said flatly "You've got no powers."

"Just bow and blade skills." Luna confirmed.

Judy then eyed Robin sr. and Marian before accusing "Andraste was around six years ago, long before the wave, did you recruit her?"

"Yes." Robin sr. told the truth. "I saw her talent with a bow and I trained her."

"But it was me who convinced her, this is all on me." Marian insisted, the handkerchief still pressed to her bloody nose.

"Oh, that I can believe." Nick barbed, his heart rate finally slowing down back to normal.

"Dad." Luna said in a warning tone.

"You know what Nicholas? You've changed your tune from Hannah's party." Marian slung back, growing tired of her son's attitude.

"That doesn't matter anymore." Nick responded.

"Oh, I think it does." Marian argued.

"What are you guys talking about? What happened at Hannah's party?" Robyn wanted answers.

"Your Mom and Dad were going to deputize Team Ceartais on Monday, they found a law where you would be legalized and could work with law enforcement." Robin sr. answered. "Jack was going along with the idea while Skye was the only one against it."

"So how about now Dad?" Luna urged, feeling more vexed after learning the truth.

"This is different." Nick dodged.

"How?" Robyn asked, aghast "It was ok to deputize a group of heroes before tonight but as soon as you find out it's your family it's a problem."

"You're kids, of course it's different." Jack enforced.

"Really Dad?" Hannah countered "Can you honestly say that you didn't know that most of ceartais are teens?" when Jack failed to answer she added "That's what I thought."

"It's not too late, you can still deputize us." Luna offered, knowing this would trigger an angry response…which was exactly what she wanted, she needed to turn the argument in Ceartais' favour while teaching them a lesson.

"Not happening." Judy said with spite.

"I'm with your mother on this." Nick backed up Judy.

"You pair of cowardly hypocrites." Luna insulted.

"Luna!" Judy gasped, never hearing such words from the vixen.

"Apologise to your mother this instant!" Nick commanded.

"For what? Telling the truth?" Luna scoffed "I love you guys but right now I've never been more disappointed in you. I grew up with two messages echoing in my ears 'Change starts with you' and 'Make the world a better place'…now all six members of Ceartais are gifted in different ways, we saw the city brought down to its knees so we decided to use our gifts to change that, to make Zootopia a better place."

"You're twisting your Mom's words." Nick accused.

"And you're just as bad," Luna sniped "was that whole 'Heart of Sherwood' speech a lie? That night you rallied mammals to help their neighbours, to stop Sherwood from bleeding out. Well that's what Ceartais has been doing for all of Zootopia."

Robyn saw where this conversation was heading and chimed in "You've seen how many lives we've saved, how many crimes we've stopped, we've made this world a better place." Robyn then pointed to the Star of Ceartais emblem on the arm of her uniform "When mammals see this star it gives them hope, we are the light in the darkness. We're doing this because it's the right thing to do, rooted in the way you raised us…or is what Luna said true; are you hypocrites?"

Neither Nick or Judy knew how to react, they were still angry but they couldn't deny that their daughters were correct. But there was no way in hell they were going to let this stand, there were going to be consequences.

Then breaking the silence, at least for six of the occupants of the room, the crackle of a comm link resonated in the ears of the Ceartais team along with the Maid and the Hood " **Spitfire to opera house team, do you copy?"** Spitfire's voice came over the radio.

Marian ignored the looks of his son, daughter-in-law and the Savages and spoke into the strap of her dress where her mic was hidden and responded, "Read you loud and clear, Spitfire."

" **Me and Mage are parked out the Opera house but Bella's picked up Ray Kamino's SOS signal coming from Tundra Town, we need to mobilize."** Spitfire relayed

"We need to go." Luna said, stepping up as a leader. "I've got a spare bow and uniform in the truck waiting."

"Go? Go where? Who were you talking to?" Judy barked.

"Someone needs our help." Kion declared, transforming once again into his Roar form to the amazement of the unfamiliar.

"Ok." Robyn agreed, grabbing her scarf that she covered her muzzle with while Hannah put her mask back over her eyes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you lot are not going anywhere!" Judy said, standing in front of the door "I need to know how you got your powers and everything else."

"What are you going to do? Arrest us?" Luna questioned, knowing they had no time for this.

"If I have too." Judy bolstered.

"We can't…" Skye said weakly, struggling to come to terms with the revelations.

"Go on then." Luna dared, stepping closer to her mother.

"W-what?" Judy reacted.

"Put us in handcuffs, throw us in a cell at the precinct and see what happens." Luna began "You arrest us and that will trigger a chain reaction; crime will go up, maybe a riot or two, Rattigan will own the drug empire in Zootopia and The Drowned will keep on killing."

"I'll put you in protective custody." Judy parried.

"Protective, huh? With every betrayal lately have you got any cops left that you trust?" Luna sowed doubt "And even if you did arrest us we'd all be killed in prison, except Robyn she'd probably survive, but everyone else would be in the morgue soon enough."

Robyn caught on to her sister's manipulation and reinforced "And say goodbye to your careers; no more police, no more city hall and no more MCB, you be kicked out the moment the news got out, all the good you've done would go up in smoke. Plus, as soon as you lock us up, the public will see you as the bad guys."

"Fine, we can't stop you." Jack accepted before pointing at Robin sr. and Marian "But we can lock up them."

"You do that and we'll tell the media our true identities and we'll get arrested anyway." Hannah threw in a threat.

"You wouldn't." Jack reacted.

"Try me." Hannah dared.

"So you're blackmailing your own family?" Nick spoke with disbelief.

"Blackmail is such a strong word." Luna critiqued "In fact this reminds me of the story of the first time you met Mom, what was it you said? Oh yeah, that's it; it's called a hustle sweetheart."

The words burned both Nick and Judy but it was the police chief who reacted first "Don't do this."

Luna sighed before taking a moment and saying, "Are you honestly telling us not to go save a life?"

"That's not fair." Judy spat.

"No, it isn't but neither are The Drowned." Luna answered before leading the three younger members out of the meeting room of defeated adult, all the while Nick was staring daggers at his parents.

000

Ray had grown used to feel of the chill wind against his face, it had been nearly 17 hours since himself, Zoe and Aleks had positioned themselves in the port administration building waiting for the smuggler to arrive with the Drowned's supplies. After the fourth hour Ray had decided for his team to take turns keeping watch while the others rested. The British tiger was currently on watch while Aleks and Zoe shared a sleeping bag, Ray glanced over at the bat and the fox while shaking his head, he was no idiot, he knew what happened last night. Usually Ray would reprimand one of his squad for such an act but the fact was he needed Zoe for this mission and Aleks technically wasn't under his command. And some part of him, buried deep down, thought that they actually suited one another…even though he had no idea how the logistics of sex would work between the two.

" **Kamino, come in!"** Chip, the chipmunk NSA agent, suddenly blasted down Ray's radio earpiece.

"I copy you base." Ray replied quietly, not showing his annoyance upon hearing the irksome chipmunk's voice.

" **Dale just got word from the smuggler that tonight's drop is off."** Chip relayed.

"Understood, we'll make our way back to the LZ." Ray huffed, Aleks and Zoe were woken by their own commas with the same message and were getting out of their sleeping bag.

" **Negative, head a click and a half east to the snowflake shopping district, cops have set up a road block and they'll need your help."** Chip ordered.

"Why have they set up a road block?" Ray asked back.

" **The Drowned attacked a charity event and took hostages, they escaped into Tundra town and that's the only road a truck can get down at the moment."** Chip explained.

"Understood, on our way." Ray answered while Rojek began to roll up his sleeping bag "Leave it, we need to get to that road block!" Before running out of the snow dusted office with Aleks and Zoe closely following.

The small team was running through the snow-covered streets now, there was no need to be quiet anymore, they had to run as fast as they could or there would be lives lost. But soon enough the team were hearing the pops of gunfire and the booms of grenades. "Bloody hell," Ray panted before pressing a small button on his radio "time to call for back up."

Aleks who was running beside and keeping pace with the tiger spotted what Ray was doing and asked, "What's that button?"

"It's a link to Ceartais, we're going to need their help." Ray answered with haste.

"Team up time." Zoe chirped as she flew above her sprinting team mates, with her drones whirling around her.

"Great." Aleks drowned sarcastically. After a few minutes of following the gunfire and explosions the squad turned the corner to see a food truck mount a curb to get around the police cruisers while the distracted cops were fighting two dozen Drowned cultists pouring out of an armoured troop carrier emblazoned with Drowned symbol in spray-paint. Ray looked for the most senior police officer and spotted a female rhino with a lieutenant emblem on her uniform taking cover behind a cruiser while other officers were dotted around and exchanging gunfire with the cultists. "Head to that Rhino!" Ray ordered over the loud gunshots

Ray took point and raced towards the third cruiser along where the rhino was behind cover with Zoe and her drones flying close to him but as Aleks waited for a break in the gunfire to run a cultist was lining up a shot with a grenade launcher, Aleks bolted towards Zoe and Ray when the cruiser he was running by exploded instantly killing the pig cop taking shelter behind it and flinging Aleks into a snow drift. The soundwave deafened Aleks and the force of the explosion made his body ache. Ray yelled something and rushed to the police line, while Zoe swooped down to Aleks yelling as well. Ringing dampened almost all sounds, Aleks was stunned, barely keeping focus on what he saw as he lifter his head from the snow. He slowly was looking at his surroundings as he forced his body to react. After a few seconds, the first sounds shaped in words, words full of panic hit Alek's ears "Aleks! Aleeeks!" He turned his head to look at Zoe who was beside his face while her drones were firing shot after shot above them.

The silver Fox blinked rapidly as if a shot of adrenaline just hit him "I... I'm fine." He breathed rising to his feet hastily and diving towards the makeshift barricade of cars where Ray and the Rhino lieutenant were taking cover. They were under heavy fire, Drowned attacking from both sides of the street were firing at few police officers remaining.

Zoe looked at this chaos and hissed "We are majorly outnumbered."

Aleks took hold of his rifle and flicked the safety off "We need to spread out and find better cover!" He shouted at Ray.

Ray who had quickly downed two cultists responded "We haven't got a lot of options Rojek, but if you want to risk it, go right ahead."

Aleks looked around to see Ray was right, the street was way too narrow and the alley they had come through was now blocked with the burning wreckage of the exploded police cruiser " _Szlag."_ he swore

"We've called for Ceartais, all we have to do now is hold that bastards off till the cavalry arrives!" Ray rallied the cops and his two squad mates just as a bullet went through the throat of a cougar police officer a few metres away. This firefight raged on for a good ten minutes but more Drowned kept on showing up seemingly from the ruins of the buildings destroyed by the Wave

" _Kurwa!_ " Aleks cursed in his native tongue as he felt a bullet whizz a couple of centimetres over his head. "They just keep coming."

"Aleks! DROWNED TO LEFT!" Zoe shrieked to him flying above and spotting a small group of cultists trying to flank them, then she dived bombed at a zebra cultist's face as Aleks blinked, his eyes hurting from all the flashes of gunfire but he was able to see cultists raising their guns at him, Ray and the cops and pull their triggers. Two cops behind Aleks where hit, the young fox instantly fired back, sending four of the Drowned to the afterlife. Zoe struck another cultist with her bladed gloves, notching up another kill. Just as Aleks aimed at the last flanker, a sniper round came out of nowhere and hit the handguard on his rifle. Aleks snarled with pain as he dropped his weapon, and ducked into cover. "Aleks!" Zoe stopped in the air and looked at the polish fox

"I'm okay, just shrapnel in my paw." Aleks hissed, looking at his now bleeding paw. Taking this moment to regain his awareness he looked around him seeing that he was a lucky one. He could see a fellow officer, a sheep, struggling to get up off the ground after being shot. Before Aleks could say or do anything the Drowned had sent a barrage of rounds to silence the fallen ewe once and for all.

Looking on at the motionless body of the fallen sheep had given him a spike of fear induced adrenaline, the pain of his injured paw began to subside from this. The gravity of the situation had weighed heavily on the silver fox, things where not going their way. A glimmer of hope briefly shined, in the form of another ZPD officer, a wolf who was out of ammo, rushing at the nearest Drowned cultist knocking him out. However as he went to grab the cultist's assault rifle another sniper shot sliced the air, piercing through the wolf's head. The wolf's blood was peppered on Aleks' fur, bringing him back to the grave scene that he himself was in. His anxiety was at an all-time high, while his fear compelled him to survive. "I'm not paid enough for this shit!" Aleks shrieked as loud as he could picking up his rifle with his good paw narrowly dodging another sniper shot.

Taking cover after a few near misses Ray had shouted "I'm almost out!" to inform the ZPD officers in his vicinity, then mumbled to himself: "This can't end like that, come on you bloody heroes, where the hell are you?" In that moment he saw four cultists charging at them, Ray pointed his gun at them, but before he fired, four arrows flew above his head tranquilizing each of the attackers at once. Ray turned his head opposite direction, on instant and saw Andraste and Scarlet rushing to the rescue.

"Just in time" Ray sighted with relief seeing as two heroines approached them and took cover behind a mail box ten metres away on the curb

"Sorry for delay. Bullet and Mage are approaching from the other side of the street." Andraste informed sending another two tranq arrows at the Drowned shooters she spotted.

"Where are Spitfire and Roar?" Ray shouted firing off a few more shots, wanting the aid of the heavy hitters.

He got the answer in the form of Roar landing on top of the Drowned's APC and tearing off their grenade launcher while Spitfire slammed onto the pavement and began taking out cultists with her electrified gauntlets.

"Where are the hostages?" Scarlet asked loudly over the firefight.

"The food truck drove off, we couldn't stop them!" Zoe hollered.

"Damn it." Scarlet growled, extending her telescopic baton and charging into the remaining Drowned forces, barely registering the three shots to her body. The battle was turning, the Drowned were dwindling. Bullet and The Mage had joined the fray and were taking out the Drowned from behind as well, only a few cultists remained. That's when Aleks spotted the sniper, he was a kangaroo on a rooftop, and he was clearly taking aim at The Mage. Aleks lined up his shot at the sniper as fast as he could, he pulled the trigger and... nothing. His rifle had jammed. Aleks barely remembered what happened next, it was as if his body was acting on its own, he sprung up from cover screaming "Mage!" but the vigilante wolf didn't even register the call, he was too busy fighting what remained of the Drowned. Aleks sped across the snow, with one eye on the sniper and the other on The Mage. The wolf was just a kid, even if he was a super hero, there was no way Aleks was going to let him die, the silver fox tackled the young wolf to the ground just as the gunshot rang out.

Andraste saw what happened and instinctively looked above Aleks and Mage, eyeing the sniper before quickly dispatching him with a tazer arrow.

"ALEKS!" Zoe shrilled with terror.

Andraste returned her gaze to Aleks and Mage on the ground and was met with an image that made her heart sink, her stomach lurch and mind fill with terror; Aleks was laying motionless in the snow with blood pooling around "No…" Andraste whispered with tears in her amber eyes.

(AN/ YOU GET A CLIFFHANGER FOR CHRISTMAS! Please please review and c ya soon...)


	38. Defiance

(AN/ Hey folks, Happy new year and here's the next chapter of Star of Ceartais. Thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. I know I was mean with that last cliffhanger but I couldn't help it, Also I'd love to thank the SOC dev team who's made this fic so succesful this year, thank you so much guys. You are awesome! So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 37- Defiance**

Waiting. Corporal Zoe Nightfall had fought against arms dealers, terrorists and the worst that mammalkind had to offer, but to her there was no worse enemy for her than waiting. The flying fox was perched on one of the seats outside the surgical theatre of North Howard Military base, waiting to hear the fate of Aleks Rojek. The waiting was killing her and to add insult to injury she was running through the 'What Ifs' in her head; What if she had been paying attention to the rooftops? What if she kept a closer eye on the cop? What if The Mage hadn't stood there like a hapless idiot? Aleks had been in surgery for just under an hour and with every tick of the clock it felt like another weight was being placed on her heart.

Zoe scorned herself mentally for feeling like this, she had told herself anything that was going to happen with Aleks would be just a fling and that she wouldn't get attached, and yet she felt like this. All she could think about was how weak Aleks looked as they loaded him onto the helicopter, she barely even registered the other mammals in the room with her; Ray and Team Ceartais.

"You're sure it was Kiara?" Ray asked Spitfire anxiously.

"Oh believe me, it was her." Spitfire answered, the mech seemingly eye to eye with the white tiger "But she was calling herself 'Lily'."

"Lily?" Ray repeated "Must be the name that psychopath Fuli gave her."

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but maybe some good can come out of this shit storm tonight." Spitfire spoke.

"How'd you figure that?" Ray enquired, his downtrodden voice matching his mood.

"We now know that The Drowned's home base is in Tundra Town, they fled here and all of their backup seemed to appear out of nowhere." Spitfire informed.

"Yeah but the ruins of Tundra Town are huge, it'll be like looking for a specific snowflake in a blizzard." Ray soured.

"Look Kiara needs a big truck to move around undetected, now with all your military intelligence can't you use like a satellite or drone to look out for trucks in Tundra Town? I mean it's not like there's a lot of traffic." Spitfire pointed out.

Ray considered this for a moment before cracking the smallest of smiles "I'll get those NSA bastards, Chip and Dale, right on it."

On the other side of the waiting room were the rest of Team Ceartais; Kion (Who had to return to normal form to get in the helicopter) was busy texting Jasiri while Andraste, Scarlet and Bullet were trying to console The Mage.

"It's all my fault." Mage said with sorrow, for the fiftieth time.

"Mage stop, there was nothing you could've done." Bullet comforted, sitting beside the wolf and letting the larger canine rest his head on her shoulder.

"I could've paid attention, I was too busy trying to show off and now…" Mage sobbed, tears soaking the fur of his cheeks.

"Aleks did what everyone else in this room would do, he took a bullet for you because he's a hero." Scarlet commented sat opposite the weeping wolf "You'd do the same for him or any other mammal."

"That doesn't change the fact that it should be me in surgery…or in the morgue." Mage sniffed.

"Stop that talk this instant," Andraste warned "Aleks wouldn't want you talking like that, he wouldn't want you punishing yourself."

There was a lull of silence, Scarlet looked up at her sister and tried to imagine what she was going through. True the two foxes were no longer together, but they had loved each other, and lost love isn't extinguished in an instant it slowly burns out and judging from the Vixen's face an ember of love was still lingering. "Are you ok?" Scarlet had to ask.

"Not really." Andraste answered honestly "Between The Downed winning, Mom exposing our identities, our family at each other's throats and half a dozen dead cops, I didn't think tonight could get much worse; but then my ex boyfriend gets shot."

Scarlet read the sorrow in his sister's amber eyes before standing up and opening her arms "Come here." She invited.

Andraste didn't hesitate in accepting the much needed hug, she held onto her baby sister tightly while saying "Thanks."

"You? You're Aleks' ex?" Zoe's drained voice cut in.

The sisters ended their hug and looked at the bat who was stood up on her seat and staring up at Andraste. "Um, you weren't supposed to hear that." Andraste replied, not wanting her identity revealed to another mammal.

"You…You broke his heart and you have the nerve to be here," Zoe began to growl "he wouldn't want you here!"

Ray heard this and turned to look at his corporal, he stayed back, knowing that the young flying fox needed to vent but he would intervene if things got out of hand. Andraste looked stung by Zoe's words, Scarlet saw this and warned the bat "Lay off, ok? She's had a shitty night."

"She's had a shitty night? What about Aleks?!" Zoe barked.

"Now listen-" Scarlet began to defend but was silenced by a paw on her shoulder.

"Let me handle this." Andraste said calmly to Scarlet before turning to Zoe and asking "You want to say something to me?"

"Yeah; I want you to leave." Zoe simmered.

"Not until Aleks is out of surgery." Andraste defied.

"The last thing he's going to want to see when he wakes up is the skank who cheated on him." Zoe slung.

Andraste ignored the insult and insisted "I don't need to see him, I just want to hear from his surgeon."

"Why? So you can pretend like you care?" Zoe argued, flying up so she was eye level with Andraste.

"I do care." Andraste parried, baring her fangs.

"If you cared you wouldn't have broke his heart." Zoe snapped "Judging by the way you're dressed like a slut I bet you cheated on him."

"Why you-" Scarlet started but was halted by a glance from Andraste, a glance that said 'Back off'

Andraste took a deep breath to steady herself and stop her darker side taking hold before admitting "Yes I cheated on him, it's all on me. But despite how much I hurt him and how much he despises me, I still care about him."

Zoe was getting frustrated at the fact that Andraste was keeping her cool, it was hard to argue against that but then Zoe realised something; the vixen hadn't said what she did was a mistake, or that she was sorry. "You can stay but I want to hear you say one thing; I want you to say that made a mistake."

"What?" Andraste sounded, wondering if she had heard the corporal correctly.

"Say cheating on Aleks was a mistake, it's pretty simple." Zoe clarified.

"I…" Andraste hesitated, she knew she should say it and that words were easy to say, hell she said it repeatedly to herself right after the break up but now the words refused to come. An image of Alice smiling at her flickered through her mind and caused her heart to hasten, that bunny was not a mistake. Yes the situation was far from perfect and it was doomed to failure but the archer could not deny that Alice had a place in her heart. "…Why do you care so much?" Andraste deflected much to the surprise of Ceartais and satisfaction of Zoe.

"You're still screwing the mammal you cheated on Aleks with, aren't you?" Zoe accused, flying closer to Andraste's face.

"That's none of your business!" The Vixen blasted, while team Ceartais exchanged awkward looks with each other. "Ugh, why do you care so…Holy shit, you've slept with Aleks haven't you?"

"So what if I have?" Zoe snarled.

"None of my business," Andraste answered sounding purposely aloof "Aleks is single and can get into bed with anyone he wants but I'm little disappointed."

"Disappointed?" Zoe scoffed.

"Yeah, don't get me wrong you're very attractive but as soon as he learns that his rebound fuck is a possessive bitch he'll leave you." Andraste said with malice.

"Why you-" Zoe began to shout.

"ENOUGH!" Ray bellowed, silencing the room "A brave mammal is fighting for his life in that operating room and all you two can do is fight like bloody children, have some respect."

Andraste's ears went flat across her skull as she stepped back while Zoe landed back down on the chair and said glumly "Sorry, sir."

After a few more minutes of silence Spitfire approached Andraste "Hey." She opened with.

Andraste sighed before saying "I know what you're going to ask, 'Is what Nightfall said true; Are you still sleeping with the mammal I cheated on Aleks with?'" Everyone else in the room had heard the question and as a result they all looked at their feet with awkwardness.

Spitfire had no expression to read, but the mech's pilot had an embarrassed look on her face. Despite that Spitfire pressed "Well is it true?"

"…Yes. But I don't want to talk about it, we've got bigger things to deal with right now."Andraste confessed.

"Ok, but you know you can talk to me, right?" Spitfire asked.

"I know, thank you." Andraste smiled sadly up at the mech, wishing she could hug the mouse inside.

At that momenta Capybara surgeon in blue scrubs emerged from the operating room's staff entrance and alerted "Flight lieutenant Kamino."

"Sir." Ray made his way over to the consultant surgeon, who held the rank of colonel.

"Your fox friend is going to be ok." The Capybara surgeon smiled with satisfaction.

"Oh thank god." Zoe cried.

"Thank you." Mage breathed, looking up at the ceiling, grateful that his prayer had come true.

Andraste who had never felt so relieved composed herself and asked "So what happened?"

"The Bullet went in under Rojek's armpit, where his bulletproof vest provides zero protection, the bullet pierced through the lower lobe of his right lung before going straight through and imbedding itself right next to his left kidney, luckily the kidney was unscathed if the bullet had hit it that he would've died in the helicopter." The Capybara explained "So we drained the lung of blood before repairing it after that we went in and retrieved the bullet."

"But will he be ok? Will he recover?" Zoe asked with urgency.

"It'll be a tough month or so, but he'll be on his feet again and fighting the Drowned soon enough." The Capybara assured.

000

Ray had offered Team Ceartais a helicopter ride back to the city but Mage had already summoned Bella to wait outside the military base. The drive back into the city was dull and uneventful, no one was in the mood to talk, tonight the bad guys had won and they had lost. Scarlet glanced at her phone and groaned before relaying the info that the Savages were waiting at the Wilde family apartment waiting for a 'Chat'. Mage pulled into an alley a block away from Scarlet's home before driving on towards Kion's home.

A few minutes later Andraste, Scarlet and Bullet looked up at the Wilde apartment, the lights were on and there were familiar shadows on the wall. Bullet honed her senses and could hear the voices of her parents along with Nick and Judy, as well as sense their shapes through her 'Static'. "They're in the living room, sounds like Judy is on the phone." Bullet relayed.

"So how are we doing this? Climb through my bedroom window or the living room?" Scarlet asked her sister.

"May as well face the music." Andraste sighed, getting out her bow and drawing a grapple arrow before firing it at the fire escape.

"This is going to suck." Scarlet moaned, picking Bullet up bride style and launching herself up onto the fire escape while Andraste zipped up with her grapple. As soon as the three heroines landed on the fire escape with a clunk the four adults inside the living room quickly turned to see the vigilantes through the window.

Andraste opened the window and led her more frightened team mates in, the vixen clambered through and greeted with a pretty chill "Hey.", Judy and Nick looked furious staring daggers at their daughters while Jack and Skye ran over to Bullet and wrapped her up in a hug.

"Oh thank heavens." Skye breathed, trembling as she held onto her daughter.

"We were so worried." Jack confessed, his light blue eyes moist with tears.

The gunslinger was caught off guard by the embrace but she hugged them back and soothed "Mom, Dad, I'm ok." She then pulled back from the hug and removed her mask and her voice modifier collar "See? I'm fine."

Andraste set her bow down and took off her hat and domino mask before trying to break the ice with her own folks "So no hug for me or Robbie, huh?"

Judy glared at her eldest kit before saying into her phone "I'll call you in the morning, Clawhauser."

"I think that's a no." Robyn commented, pulling down her hood and the scarf that covered her muzzle.

"What the hell were you three thinking? Running off to Tundra Town into a frickin' firefight? You could've been killed." Nick opened with an angry tone, he was still dressed in his tux from the auction.

Judy set her phone on the coffee table and added in a solemn voice "I've just been told six ZPD officers were killed tonight; Anita Akhtar 36, Geoff Nolan 51, Mandy Wing 23, Jerome Redclaw 29, Ellen Woolgood 31 and Rudolph Cringle 48. Along with three civilians and four hostages taken…you three could've easily been on that list."

"That list would've been a lot bigger if we hadn't intervened." Robyn stood her ground, taking off her voice modifier.

"Don't backchat your mother." Nick cautioned.

"She's telling the truth Dad, the Drowned wanted to kill everyone in the opera house." Luna backed her sister up "You'd be dealing with over two hundred dead if it wasn't for us."

"So what? You want us to say thank you?" Judy scoffed.

"No, of course not. We just want you guys to understand why we do what we do." Robyn reasoned.

"I know it's hard to understand but we chose this life." Hannah spoke to both Nick and Judy and her own parents as she got out an aerosol can from one of the pouches on her belt and started spraying her head and tail to reveal her signature stripes.

"All I understand is that my god damn parents are sociopaths who force kids to put their lives on the line." Nick sniped.

"Ugh, Dad quit it with your parents issues for one second." Luna groaned "Can you ignore all of that and look at the bigger picture? Zootopia is hell on earth right now and we're the only thing stopping it burning to the ground."

"The government can handle this Luna, sure you've helped but overall you and Ceartais have solved no problems." Judy countered.

"Oh and all the government groups have? With all the tax dollars and mammal power you still haven't stopped the Drowned, Ceartais is only six mammals and we've done more." Luna exchanged.

"We saved all your lives," Hannah spoke "Dad's life has been saved twice by us. Can you honestly say we're not doing good?"

"It's not about that little one, it's about you and the other putting your lives on the line." Jack replied.

"If anything ever happened to you…" Skye tried, but the sheer thought of her daughter dying weakened her.

"But you guys saw me and Robyn tonight, we took on dozens of cultists like it was nothing. I can sense someone pulling a trigger a mile and a half away, I'm too fast for them." Hannah listed.

"Before anything else I want to know something," Nick cut in "how did you get your powers?"

"Lu do you want to field this one?" Robyn suggested.

Luna had strolled over to the fridge and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, she twisted the cap off before answering "It was an accident."

"You gave them their powers? How?" Judy gawped.

"Remember when these two were fighting septic shock the night of the wave? Well that medicine I gave them triggered their powers." Luna responded, before taking a sup of beer.

"Antibiotics gave them super powers?" Jack asked in a confused manner.

"They weren't antibiotics," Luna corrected with a shake of their head "inside that liquid were experimental nanomachines engineered by Olivia. We named it 'Steel Blood', it was supposed to used to help fight cancer, sepsis and AIDS. But it was still in the prototype stage so we only programmed it with one command; Adapt and Survive."

"What? That doesn't sound so bad." Judy reacted.

"That's what I thought, the steel blood nanomachines were just meant to get rid of the septicaemia then the girls should've processed them through their kidneys before peeing them out a few days later." Luna carried on.

"So why are they, um, well, super powered?" Skye struggled to find the right word.

"Steel Blood took the 'Adapt and Survive' order too literally, they began to mimic actual cells by reproducing and taking root all around their bodies. Robyn's had a big cut to her stomach so Steel Blood healed it but also her bones and muscles were damaged in the wave so they the nanomachines attached themselves to them to strengthen them and they've been stuck on that command ever since." Luna explained.

"Causing her healing ability and super strength." Nick figured.

"But what about Hannah? Surely this Steel Blood stuff should've healed her eyesight?" Jack questioned.

"That puzzled me to, I can only theorise that when the nanomachines realized that repairing the oversaturation of Hannah's retinas would take too long they began to increase her reflexes, senses and began using the pulse ability." Luna explained further.

"Pulse?" Skye sounded.

Hannah decided to explain it herself "Every time my heart beats the steel blood nanobots send out a small electrical pulse that can stretch nearly two miles, the pulse then sends a message back to my brain mapping out my surroundings, it feels like static. I can sense movement, shapes, and density."

"But you can't see?" Jack asked without hope, his ears going droopy.

"No, but I don't need my eyesight, you've seen what I can do." Hannah tried to cheer her Dad up.

"But what about Kion and Kodi? And what exactly is Spitfire?" Skye pressed.

"That's another can of worms I don't want to open right now." Luna shot down, swigging her beer.

Judy was tired, she looked up at the clock in the kitchen and grunted when she saw that it read 3.21 am. She knew this night was far from over and there was a lot more things to be discussed. "Ok weapons on the table." Judy said suddenly.

"Huh?" Robyn replied.

"We're confiscating your weapons." Judy clarified, before snapping her fingers and pointing at the kitchen table.

Robyn and Hannah knew it was unwise to cross the aggravated rabbit and gingerly stepped over to the kitchen table, Robyn only had her baton to place while Hannah unclipped her special holster belt that connected her pistols by a wire. Nick looked at Luna who was leaning against the wall and drinking her beer "You heard her Kiddo, hand your weapons over." Nick reminded.

"Not happening." Luna responded bluntly.

"Luna put your bow, quiver and daggers on the table." Judy said sternly.

"No." Luna stood her ground.

"That wasn't a request." Judy replied with scorn walking over to her eldest girl.

"Unless you're going to arrest me, I'm not handing over anything." Luna responded.

"Luna…" Judy seethed before cooling her jets "Luna we love you but we want you stop this before you get in even more trouble, so please work with us here."

"There are only two ways this can work; either you arrest us all or you deputize us like you planned." Luna gave her ultimatum.

"This isn't fair, there is too much stake for you to be so selfish." Nick chimed in.

"Selfish? You think I'm being selfish? Why don't you look in the mirror?" Luna challenged, finishing her beer and picking up her bow.

"The city is at stake here and you're risking all the good we've done by backing us into a corner, it's time to stop playing the hero." Judy reacted.

"Yes the city is at stake, but you're letting the fact that we're family cloud your judgement, you were willing to accept the help of strangers but not the ones you love." Luna spoke from her heart as she put her hat back on.

Judy and Nick were frozen by the truthful words they couldn't think of a response, but Judy saw Luna grab her mask and make her way back to the window and panicked "W-where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here." Luna replied before turning back to her parents and saying "I love you but I can't be near you right now." The vixen then put on her domino mask and exited onto the fire escape, firing off a grapple arrow and disappearing into the darkness leaving the Wildes and Savages to talk.

000

Alice Kirabito was a light sleeper, like most rabbits she had evolved to react the slightest of sounds in case of a predator approaching, and with an occupation as an assassin this lapin trait was quite handy. Alice's ears twitched upon hearing the scape of claws on the masonry outside her window, she half opened one of her golden eyes while her paw reached under her pillow gripping one of the many handguns she kept hidden around her apartment. Alice would pretend to be asleep when the intruder entered and as they approached her supposed slumbering form she'd shoot them between the eyes, but through her half opened eye she spotted a familiar golden hat with a bright red feather nested in it bobbing just above the windowsill "Luna?" she whispered, Alice got her answer when the vixen's head popped up and wrapped her knuckle against the pane signalling to be let in.

Alice hopped out of bed and went straight over to the window opening it "What on earth are you coming through my window for? Why didn't you just knock the front door?" Alice asked quickly with a hushed voice.

"Kind of left my parents' place in a huff, I didn't have time to grab my normal clothes." Luna quickly explained, climbing through with ease and taking her mask off instantly.

"Wait what? Your parents know?" Alice gasped.

"Mom figured out who everyone on Ceartais apart from Spitfire, she blabbed to my Dad and Bullet's parents too." Luna explained in a sad voice "We had an argument and I went out the window."

"You ok?" Alice asked taking hold of Luna's paw.

"…No." Luna admitted, her amber eyes getting teary "I think my Mom and Dad hate me."

"Don't be ridiculous." Alice cooed softly, leading Luna to sit on the edge of the bed "It was just a fight, isn't that what families do?"

"Yeah I've had a few fights with my Dad over the years but never Mom…this whole situation is shit from top to bottom." Luna grieved.

"Well to be fair they just did learn their daughters are vigilantes." Alice commented triggering an even more dejected look to grow on Luna's muzzle causing Alice to back peddle "But I'm sure you'll sort it out."

"I'm not so sure, my parents are really upset about this, I don't think they have any idea what they're doing, they're just blinded by their own anger." Luna vented while wiping away some tears.

"Just let's try and get some sleep, it may be better in the morning." Alice offered, resting her head on her lover's arm.

"…Yeah." Luna croaked while thinking _Or there will be a warrant for my arrest in the morning._

000

Nick, Judy, Jack and Skye had barely gotten a wink of sleep, the four adults had been up all night taking calls from their respective offices while also discussing among themselves what the next step would be in regards to the Ceartais situation. But none of them could reach a logical conclusion, none of them would admit but they felt guilty discussing the futures of their children while they slept down the hall, with Hannah in Luna's old room and Robyn in her own. Purposely separated with their phones taken off them and confined to their rooms bar for bathroom breaks.

Nick looked at the clock and grimaced when he saw it read 12.56 pm, he slurped his fifth cup of coffee of the day and complained "I need to be at City Hall by three for another press conference."

"Me and Jack need to head to the MCB office soon too." Skye commented, looking at her dozing husband with his head on the kitchen table before looking at Judy who was sprawled on the sofa and snoring, she had fallen asleep watching the ZNN channel on the TV in case there was any mention of Luna or more specifically her archer alter ego.

"I don't think we're going to come a solution to this mess today." Nick huffed.

"Maybe there is no solution." Skye sighed sadly "Maybe it is like Luna said; we either have to arrest or deputize."

"Skye, you know that deputizing is no longer an option." Nick replied, too tired to argue.

"So what? We throw our girls' lives down the toilet? We both know that they'll get at least five years for vigilantism and that's not counting all the assault charges and breaking and entering felonies they've clocked up. The District Attorney will eat them alive." Skye painted a bleak picture.

"Don't you think I know that?" Nick said sadly "Don't you think I know that our careers will be over? I'll have to resign, so will Judy and my parents will be locked up…believe me I know the consequences."

"So why do you want to go through with this?" Skye forced.

"Because at least this way my daughters will still be alive, they won't be out there getting shot at." Nick answered.

"No, they'll be in prison with a shiv in their gut." Skye gave a grim alternative.

"Don't…Skye don't say that." Nick spoke trying to purge the image from his mind.

"Look Nick, I know I've never been a fan of Ceartais, but I can't let my baby go to jail, I just can't." Skye spoke her mind "And well…"

"Well what?" Nick asked.

Before Skye could answer the voice of Fabienne Growley coming from the TV caught their attention " **Breaking News coming in. Twelve construction workers have been taken hostage while working on repairing the famous Palm Top Casino in the heart of Sahara Square, the perpetrator is not a member of The Drowned but a mammal calling himself TNTiger."**

Nick and Skye walked over to see the TV, the red fox grabbing the remote and turning up the volume causing Jack and Judy to stir from their brief slumber "W-what the?" Judy yawned.

" **The hostage taker has just posted a video on Furbook, which we will show now, we must warn viewers of some distressing images."** Fabienne Growley announced.

The image on the TV changed showing the ridiculous and cartoonish villain TNTiger dressed in his usual costume but with one deadly addition, he was wearing an explosive suicide vest as were the terrified mammals sitting on the floor behind him " **Good afternoon Zootopia! It is I; the most despicable villain of this city, TNTiger!"** TNTiger announced in a theatrical manner.

"Uh, is this a joke?" Jack asked in a tired voice, wondering if he was watching some kids show.

" **As you can see I've added some very explosive accessories to myself and these wage slaves, but of course the question you are all wondering is; what do I want?"** TNTiger continued in a hammy fashion.

"This is all we need another whack job in this town." Nick groaned, starting to believe this city was cursed.

" **My demands are simple; I want ten million dollars but I don't want it delivered by any cop I want all six members of Team Ceartais to hand it over before getting on their knees and begging for the hostages' freedom. Ceartais you have one hour!"** TNTiger smirked.

"Oh no." Judy mumbled with wide eyes, hoping in vain that Robyn and Hannah hadn't heard about this.

Down the hall Robyn and Hannah were already getting changed into their uniforms in different room while chatting hastily on the comm link with the rest of the team "Mage I need you to come pick me and Bullet up from my parents place ASAP!" Robyn ordered, looking at TNTiger's video on her laptop.

" **Sure, but can you get past your parents?"** Mage asked hesitantly.

" **You let us worry about that, just get here as fast as you can."** Hannah's voice came over the radio.

" **Roar, Spitfire and Andraste are already at the scene,"** The Maid relayed " **Spitfire has the ransom money as well."**

" **Wait, she just had ten million laying around? Why am I not surprised?"** Hannah gave a soft laugh.

"So we're just going to give him what he wants?" Robyn asked with disbelief, fastening her gauntlets on.

" **If it comes to that we'll have too, but Spitfire's working on a plan as we speak. All we need are you guys and we're good to go."** The Maid said confidently.

" **Right, but first I need to get my guns back."** Hannah said with a pumped up voice.

"This is going to suck." Robyn moaned for the second time in twelve hours, she opened her bedroom door to see Hannah coming out of Luna's old bedroom. Hannah walked over to Robyn and gave her a good luck kiss on the lips before taking hold of her paw and leading her to the living room where they were met with…

"No. No. No!" Judy steamed, looking at the teens in their hero gear.

"You heard what that guy said, he wants all six of us." Hannah stated, letting go of Robyn's hand and going over to the kitchen table where her guns were.

Nick saw what she about to do and snatched them away "Go back to your rooms girls." He pleaded.

"Dad, give Hannah her guns." Robyn asked politely.

"That maniac has bombs, you could get killed!" Judy freaked.

"You're right, we could but what will definitely happen is those twelve hostages will be dead in around fifty minutes if we do nothing." Robyn stated plainly, showing no sign of fear.

Nick was still holding onto Hannah's guns tightly as Skye spoke in a frightened voice "Nick, hand Hannah her guns."

"Skye?" Judy and Nick gasped in unison.

"She's mine and Jack's girl, not yours. So hand those guns over, now." Skye reiterated.

"Jack you can't agree with this!?" Nick asked, flabbergasted.

"They need to do this, Nick." Jack responded in a defeated voice "Zootopia needs them."

Hannah took advantage of Nick being distracted and snatched her special holsters and pistols out of Nick's paws "We've defeated TNTiger twice before, we can do it again." Hannah tried to sound positive.

"No, this is crazy!" Judy stressed "Robyn I forbid you to step outside that door!"

"I'm sorry Mom, but you'd do the same if you were in my position." Robyn stayed strong despite being intimidated by her Mother's rage filled face.

"Judy we have to let them go, they're….they're too big now, they're not our little girls anymore, they're heroes." Skye tried to reason.

Robyn didn't even bother trying to get her baton off the table, she wouldn't really need it against TNTiger and she didn't want to hurt her Dad to get it back. Robyn put up her hood and headed for the front door with Hannah, Judy darted in front of the door and blocked the exit with her outstretched arms "I won't let you!" She cried angry tears.

Robyn just sighed before lifting up her mom off her feet, Judy began to thrash and scream "Put me down!", Robyn handed her to the waiting paws of the dumbfounded Nick who was at a loss of what to do. "ROBYN HEATHER WILDE DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT DOOR!" Judy bellowed.

Robyn went to open the door only to find all four locks were secured, two of which needed a key, she looked at her Mom and figured the keys must be on her but instead of asking for the keys Robyn just used a minimal bit of her super strength and yanked the door open busting all the locks "Later." Robyn bid farewell before racing out of the apartment with Bullet following, the angry screams of Judy echoing behind them as they ran.

000

The area around the Palm Top Casino was practically chaotic with a mix of cops, ambulances, fire trucks, bomb squad and of course more news crews than you could shake a stick at. The Mage had to wait for cops to clear the way before he could move Bella through the crowd of reporters, this was the first time Ceartais had appeared in the daytime and the media was desperate for a shot of the city's heroes. He drove up to the main entrance of the Hotel/Casino and could see Spitfire, Roar and Andraste chatting to Commissioner Bogo. "Holy crap, they're talking to Mason?" Scarlet gawped "I thought for sure he'd slap the cuffs on them."

"Well he hasn't got a lot of options, all that matters are those hostages." Mage realised, still sounding shaky after last night's events.

Bullet detected the uncertainty in her friend's voice and asked "Are you sure you'll be ok?"

"I have to be," Mage accepted "it isn't my life on the line here." He parked up the pickup truck and the three youngest members of the team got out.

Bogo spotted the three heroes and greeted "Glad you could make it."

"Sorry we're late." Bullet replied, walking over and standing by her team mates.

"The commissioner was just telling us the state of the situation on the top floor." Roar informed.

"Is at as bad as TNTiger makes out?" Scarlet asked in a concerned manner.

"I'm afraid so, Bomb squad has studied the footage and they all seem to be viable devices. I have SWAT teams ready to breach but that would be a last resort this mammal is unstable and would let off the bombs at the slightest provocation." Bogo explained "Now if it was any other case I'd refuse the help of vigilantes but after seeing all the lives you saved last night I know you mean well, please don't make me regret this decision."

"We won't let you down, Commissioner." Andraste promised, holding onto the sports bag full of ransom money.

"Hmm," Bogo gave a stoic snort, despite being in his late fifties the buffalo still cut an imposing figure "now I'm about to divulge intelligence that may help you, under no circumstances must you share this, are we clear?"

"Crystal." Spitfire replied.

"TNTiger's real name is Wendell Pinkerton, 27, born in the Rainforest District, has previous for stalking and sexual harassment, he worked at a comic book store until he was fired for making unwelcomed advances on a colleague. This tiger is obviously suffering from a mental health issues, we don't want him hurt, we need to subdue him then get him the help he needs. There has been too much death in the last 24 hours, we don't need anymore." Bogo instructed.

"You got it." Mage nodded.

Spitfire then said suddenly "There's twenty two minutes until the bombs go off let's not keep him waiting." She then walked into the building with her team mates following close behind.

"So we have a plan, right?" Scarlet asked nervously.

"Of course, tell em' Spitfire." Roar grinned.

"It's simple really," Spitfire replied, the team could only imagine the smug look on the occupant's face "we're going to get this villain to start monologing while one of us disarms the bombs. Once the hostage's bomb vests are taking care of then I'll give Mage the signal I need you to use his wand to disarm TNTiger's suicide vest"

"Um, but won't he notice if one of us starts tinkering with the bombs?" Mage asked, sounding jittery, as the team walked into the extra large elevator meant for elephants and giraffes.

"Oh don't worry, Team Ceartais will be right where TNTiger can see them." Andraste smirked, selecting the top floor on the panel

"Huh?" Bullet gave a confused sound as the elevator doors closed.

"Spitfire to Maid, prepare drone mode." Spitfire radioed.

" **Roger."** Maid responded in cheeky tone.

Ninety seconds later the elevator doors opened once again and the team stepped out into the nightclub area that was still be repaired after the earthquake, there was loose light fittings, power tools and other building materials scattered everywhere. The team's gaze fell to the dance floor where the construction workers were hunched together on the floor, afraid to move a muscle in case the explosives strapped to their chests went off. "You're early!" TNTiger's voice sang, the costumed villain tried to make a dramatic appearance by jumping on the bar but stumbled as he did so, he quickly regained his balance before adding "I was sure you were going to be all dramatic and leave it until the last second to show up."

"We would've got here sooner but the traffic was a nightmare." Bullet jested "You've caused quite a commotion outside."

"Really?" TNTiger asked happily, gripping the bomb trigger in his left paw and jumping down off the bar and walking towards his adversaries. "Are they terrified?"

"You've got twelve mammals hostage, of course they're terrified." Roar added.

"Finally!" TNTiger shouted with joy "Finally this cesspool of a city sees who is the greatest villain of them all, not the gangsters, not The Drowned but ME!"

TNTiger was so focused on the heroes he hadn't noticed a small figure dash behind a toolbox as the elevator doors opened, Olivia Dawson was in her jumpsuit and still wearing her neural link helmet but it was The Maid controlling the Spitfire mech from the bunker. This was the plan; the team would keep TNTiger distracted while Olivia snuck around and disarmed the hostages bomb vests using a small sticky disc that contained an override virus and shut the bombs' detonators off. These disks had been developed by the Maid years before and Olivia always kept a supply of various sizes in her mechs. The mouse made sure TNTiger wasn't looking before dashing behind some packs of floor tiles, a few of the hostages noticed her so she quickly put her finger to her lips to signal them to be silent.

"So how did you do it? We have to know?" Mage asked, giving TNTiger the opportunity to boast.

"The security here is awful, so it was as simple as walking into the elevator and stepping out with a suicide vest on, once those wage slaves saw that they had no choice they were quick to put on the vests I provided." TNTiger bragged, not noticing Olivia run past him and attach the first disarm disc to a hostage.

"You vile villain, you won't get away with this!" Scarlet deliberately hammed up, hoping to stoke a reaction out of the wannabe comic book bad guy.

"Oh but my simple Scarlet, I already have." TNTiger gave the cliché response "You being here has already sealed my victory."

"Fine, you won." Andraste reacted, holding up the sports bag full of cash "Here's the ransom money, now let the mammals go."

"Not so fast, I'm no fool!" TNTiger snapped, causing Olivia to freeze with fear "Empty the bag, I don't want any dye packs or trackers waiting for me." Olivia's heart started to beat again as she continued to disarm the bombs.

"As you wish." Andraste obeyed, unzipping the bag and pouring out stack upon stack of cash.

"Very nice." TNTiger smiled "Now there is only one thing left for you to do."

"And that is?" Bullet asked, knowing full well what he wanted but she was stalling for time, she could sense Olivia moving from hostage to hostage.

"All of you get on your knees and beg me to release the hostages." TNTiger demanded with a sick grin.

"…Ok." Mage replied, acting hurt. He got to his knees as did everyone else before saying "Please let the hostages go."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." TNTiger tutted before grinning "All of you."

The team looked at one another, they knew Olivia would be done any second, Mage had his wand up his sleeve ready for Olivia's signal but for now they would have to play along and they all began to say together "Please let -"

Olivia then scrambled on top of an Opossum's head and hollered "OO-DE-LALLY!"

"What!?" TNTiger turned to see where the voice had come from but in that instant Mage used the HUD in his mask to lock onto the bomb's detonator and disarmed it with a flick of his wand.

"YOU FOOLS!" TNTiger screamed, pushing the trigger button with his thumb and…nothing "What!?"

"Hey Wendell didn't you know," A snarky voice spoke, TNTiger's eyes returned to in front of him to see a ginger furred foot coming straight for him, the kick hit his face and he was unconscious before he hit the floor, Scarlet landed beside him with ease and added "the bad guy always loses?"

000

It had been a tense hour for Nick, Judy, Jack and Skye as they watched the drama unfold on ZNN but none of them could hide their relief when the TV showed all Team Ceartais emerge from the Palm Top casino unscathed, with the villain being hauled out by Roar and the hostages running into the waiting arms of their loved ones. There were cheers and applause from the crowds and emergency services alike and even Bogo shook each team member's hand and had a rare smile on his face. Judy flopped down onto the sofa beside Nick, rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to alleviate her headache. Nick put an arm around his sly bunny and kissed her forehead, she hugged him back neither of them needing to speak to convey the relief they were feeling.

The moment was short lived however as Jack cut in "So what now? Do you still want to arrest them?"

Nick looked at the cheering crowds on TV and the headline saying 'Heroes of Zootopia' and gave a defeated sigh "No, it's like Skye said, they're too big."

(AN/ So what did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC, Nick invites Ceartais to city hall, Alice and Luna have a brief reprieve from the chaos, the team plans to strike against Rattigan and we learn what's happened to Fuli's prisoners. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	39. Parlay

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais, I want to thank everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. And thank you to the DEV team and artists who have been working on this project with me, I really appreciate it. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 38- Parley**

Nick had texted Robyn not long after TNTiger was carted off to be assessed at a secure mental health facility. The text was rather cold, it was almost like she could hear her Dad's disappointed voice as she read the text 'Stay at Kodi's tonight, your Mom is still upset. I've rang Gazelle and sorted it out, there will be a meeting at their mansion tomorrow at midday to parley about getting your team deputized. Love, Dad X'. Even though Nick had finished off with 'love', Robyn figured he did it out of habit. She knew her Dad loved her, but right now his trust in his daughters and his own parents was shattered, and Robyn wasn't sure if it would ever be fully repaired.

Elsewhere in Zootopia, all that anyone could talk about was Ceartais; they were trending on social media, images of them were plastered all over the news channels and kids all over Zootopia had their imaginations ignited by these real life superheroes. They were still the top news story the next morning when Sasha Jones walked into the offices of BarkFeed where Mr Boehm was already ranting to of his staff"God damn it I need pictures of Ceartais!"

"Good thing I'm here then." Sasha spoke up, walking over to the red panda.

"Ojos, it's about damn time you showed up." Boehm reacted, looking up at the tall antelope.

"And good morning to you to." Sasha smiled sarcastically.

"Please tell me you were at the Palm Top casino yesterday." Boehm cut to the chase.

"Nope." Sasha responded with a smirk.

"Ojos, you're my star photographer, why weren't you at the scene?" Boehm frowned.

"Because I was too busy sorting out photos from inside the Opera House when the Drowned attacked." Sasha baited, holding up a USB stick.

"Ugh, how much is this going to cost me?" Boehm asked with a groan.

"A grand." Sasha replied.

"Fine." Boehm begrudgingly agreed, Sasha then tossed the USB stick to the editor, who promptly held it up and hollered "Yola!"

From out of nowhere a female Tapir appeared and chirped "Yes sir?"

"Get the photos off this and post it on the app with the headline 'Ceartais: Heroes or Hindrance?'" Boehm instructed handing the stick over.

"Whoa, hold up." Sasha reacted "Did you say hindrance?"

"Yeah, every other news network is harping on about how Ceartais are the best thing since sliced bread but I'm the only one who sees the truth; they're a menace!" Boehm voiced his opinion.

"But they saved those hostages at the casino and stopped the Drowned at the opera house, they're heroes." Sasha disagreed.

"Kinda' convenient that they just happened to be there when the Drowned showed up? And the only reason this TNTiger started acting like a maniac was watching those six fruitcakes." Boehm countered.

"They're not crazy, they want to help the city!" Sasha argued.

"No they want to cause chaos." Boehm replied firmly "Remember that Limey white tiger who tried to strangle me? He was after you to get to ceartais. I tell ya' all those freaks are going to do is just cause more trouble."

"Well good luck with your smear campaign, because it won't work. Zootopia loves Ceartais." Sasha commented.

"For now, once I score an interview with them I'll grill em' and expose them for the fame hungry anarchists they are." Boehm grinned slyly.

"Fat chance, they'll never agree to meet you once they read your app." Sasha dismissed.

"Fine, if they don't want to be famous, I'll make them infamous!" Boehm challenged.

000

Luna had spent the night at Alice's again, a welcome option compared to going back to her parent's place and getting into an inevitable argument. Luna hated arguments, even though she usually won them, but she had hated arguing with her Mom more than anything. Judy had been a part of her life since she was six years old and from the get go, they had always been close. She had been there when Luna was depressed about her birth mother's illness, helped her grieve when Victoria passed on and most importantly had just been a Mom. Luna always considered herself very lucky to be graced with two mothers, the vixen never even explained that Judy was her technically her step mother when she introduced her to friends. But during the argument she felt terrified that she could lose that connection, that bond that they shared, that was the real reason Luna left the apartment so quickly, in case she said something that would tear down their relationship from which could never recover.

But right now Luna was more concerned with another Bunny, the very adorable and dorky nerd dressed only in an over-sized Sailor Moon t-shirt, sat on the sofa furiously bashing her games console controller, while her tongue peaked outside of the side of her mouth. Luna still found it amazing that Alice could be so unbelievably cute, yet so deadly "I know this a taboo word but you're too cute." Luna chuckled, getting her jacket on and getting ready to leave for the meeting at the Jones mansion.

"Oh really?" Alice smiled, not taking her golden eyes off the beat em' up game she was playing "What's so cute about me?"

"Apart from being just your little sexy nerd self, it's got to be that cute little thing you do with your tongue when you're concentrating." Luna noted, scooping up her car keys from the coffee table.

Alice paused her game and gave a sultry look to her lover "Oh, I wouldn't say my tongue is my cutest part, after all I think we both prefer my other 'Talents' with it."

It was a corny line but Luna's heartbeat rose anyway, she pushed back her urge to flirt back which more than likely result in the pair having sex on the sofa. "Don't even try it, I've got to go to this meeting and I can't be late." Luna cautioned.

Alice decided to push her luck and pulled up her T shirt just a little to show off her toned and heavily scarred legs to entice her scar adoring girlfriend while cooing "Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?"

"Alice, no." Luna laughed off, despite being tempted. The couple's love life had been wild to say the least, despite never having a female (or even a different species) partner before, Luna had no hesitation when being intimate with Alice.

Alice tried to play a little more and stood up on the sofa so she was eye level with Luna "Please?" she asked sweetly stroking the red fur of Luna's cheek.

Luna smiled devilishly at Alice before quickly leaning in and delivering a surprise hickey to the bunny's neck, Alice gave a delighted squeal before Luna pulled back and bargained "If you're good little bunny and wait til' I get back from patrol tonight there will be much more of that, ok?"

"Ok." Alice accepted, enjoying the joyous sting of the love bite as she traced over Luna's teeth marks with her paw.

"Good girl." Luna flirted, kissing Alice quickly before heading to the front door but as she opened the door there was a surprised looking spotted hyena who had her paw raised to knock the door. "Oh." Luna sounded upon seeing the hyena.

"Hey, you must be Andi!" Jasiri beamed "Alice has told me all about you."

Luna remembered Alice mentioning that she called her 'Andi' to her friends to avoid association with a certain bow wielding super heroine so she played along "And you must be Jasiri." Luna replied happily.

"Why have I got the feeling you called around just so you could meet my girlfriend?" Alice asked with suspicion, hopping off the sofa and walking over.

"Would I do that?" Jasiri feigned innocence while batting her eyelashes.

Luna let out a small laugh at this but added "I'd really love to stay and chat but I've got to go meet my family and my mom will be pissed if I'm late."

"Aww, never mind." Jasiri reacted,

Luna then gave a final kiss to Alice and said "See you later." before heading out of the apartment, leaving a dreamy eyed rabbit and a giggling hyena.

"Oh my gosh, you two are so adorkable." Jasiri gushed, closing the door.

"I guess." Alice agreed with a shy voice.

"D'aww look at you acting all timid and innocent." Jasiri coaxed "No one would ever guess that you're a little sex freak."

"Well I am a rabbit." Alice joked, heading over to the kitchen with Jasiri following.

"Girl, I heard you two last night, you must have done it like four times."Jasiri poked.

"Well you and Kion weren't so quiet either," Alice parried, pointing to her ears "I never knew you were into dirty talk."

Jasiri was caught off guard by this and uncharacteristically babbled "Uh, well, I mean we all have our…you know."

"Kinks." Alice finished as she poured herself and Jasiri some coffee from the pot resting on the counter.

"So…." Jasiri dragged wanting to change the subject "Looks like I'm going to meet Kion's parents."

"Whoa, that's big step." Alice commented, passing the bunny sized mug to the larger mammal.

"I know, I'm a bit nervous. I mean I know I've kind of met his mom already but this going to be at a fancy restaurant and I don't even know what his dad is like." Jasiri fretted.

"If they raised a son like Kion they must be nice mammals, he's the sweetest guy on the planet." Alice assured.

"I guess," Jasiri sighed "how about you? You getting ready to meet Andi's folks?"

"No way." Alice shot down "We're taking this slow and just enjoying being a couple."

"Oh come on, are you still worried after that rift you had with her sister?" Jasiri probed, sipping her coffee.

"Well there is that but…" Alice trailed off.

"But what?" Jasiri asked, sensing there was something bothering the rabbit.

"Andi hasn't come out to her family." Alice revealed, looking into her coffee mug.

"Oh." Jasiri reacted

"And I don't want to force her, coming out is scary for most mammals. Honestly she's still trying to figure her sexuality out, I mean she never even been with another female before we met." Alice unloaded.

"…Give her time." Jasiri advised, knowing it was a delicate situation "I only just met the vixen and seeing the way she kissed you I know she cares a lot about you. When she does come out I bet you'll be by her side and holding her hand."

Alice pictured standing beside Luna when she came out then Robyn realising who she was and beating the crap out of her causing the assassin to whisper "That sounds terrifying."

000

Jack Savage felt like he was about to step into a courtroom, not the home of a family friend, he looked at the front door of the Jones mansion and felt a sense of fear in his gut. Skye, Jack and Hannah stood on the steps of the mansion, all three of them afraid of what was going to transpire inside. "I guess we should knock." Hannah suggested, tapping her cane on the steps. The hybrid didn't need her cane but she had explained it was just for appearances.

"Just hold on sec." Jack replied, sounding unsure.

"Jack, it'll be ok." Skye assured, putting an arm around her fretting husband.

"If this negotiation goes south they're will be a warrant out for Hannah's arrest, we should be getting her out of the state." Jack spoke his worried mind.

"Dad, Nick wouldn't have called this meeting if he didn't want to discuss getting me and the others deputized." Hannah brought up "Besides, even if this doesn't go our way, the cops will have to catch me first."

"Don't joke like that." Skye sighed.

At that moment though one of the massive double doors opened and the friendly face of Wade Jones was there to welcome the Savages "Hey, glad you could make it." The black furred wolf said warmly.

"H-Hi Wade." Jack responded with a pained smile, realising there was no turning back now.

"Well don't just stand there, come on in, everyone else is already here." Wade beckoned, stepping aside so the guests could enter.

A couple of minutes later the Savage family had been led to one of the mansion's lounges where everyone was waiting; Luna and Spitfire were in the corner chatting quietly, Nick and Judy were sat on one of the sofas with their paws entwined for comfort, Robyn, Sasha and Gazelle were standing by the snack table that Gazelle had prepared and all three seemed unfazed by the weight of the situation while Kodi was showing Kion a new card trick. As soon as Gazelle saw the Savages her face lit up "Jack, Skye! It's been ages." The songstress trotted over before kneeling down and hugging the fox and the bunny, treating this meeting more like a brunch than a negotiation that shaped the future of their kids.

"Good to see you to Gazelle, I just wish it was under better circumstances." Skye replied.

"There is no reason this get together can't be something positive." Gazelle said, loud enough for everyone to hear and get the message.

Nick and Judy knew this was aimed at them but they took it on the chin before Judy opened "So shall we get started?"

"Hold on," Wade halted "there's still two more mammals that need to be here…Come on in."

The door on the other side of the room opened and in walked Robin senior and Marian causing Nick to explode with "What the F-"

"Language Nicholas." Marian scolded, her nose still swollen from when Judy punched her.

"What are they doing here?" Judy asked with a venomous voice.

"Because they're part of the team, they're our support." Kodi answered.

"This is ridiculous! You want us to talk with them? After what they did?" Nick asked thrice to no one in particular but both Robin Sr. and Marian's face grew sad at those words.

"Nick, be reasonable." Jack said "We won't get anything settled if you two are acting like this?"

Nick and Judy both gave an annoyed grunt and muttered "Fine." In unison, staring daggers at the elder Wildes as they walked over and sat on the sofa opposite.

"So where do we begin?" Wade asked, sounding awkward.

"Actually Wade I would like to know how long you and Gazelle have known about Kodi being the Mage?" Skye enquired, finding it odd that the couple were so at ease with their son being a superhero.

"Honestly? Nearly two months." Gazelle answered, looking over at her boy with pride "We figured it out after seeing some pictures of The Mage online."

"Did you know about the others?" Judy asked with suspicion.

"Well it was kind of obvious." Gazelle shrugged.

"And you kept it from us!?" Judy snapped "We're supposed to be friends! This isn't some minor secret, we're talking about our kids."

"It was not our secret to tell."Wade answered calmly "And judging from the way you and Nick have reacted I'd say we made the right choice."

"Well can you blame us? Our daughters' lives are in danger!" Nick fumed.

"As is our son's, but we all know that Zootopia needs Ceartais, that when the fearful see that star emblem that there is hope." Gazelle convinced, pointing to the nautical style star on Spitfire's arm.

"And so there is no more secrets," Spitfire said before opening the chest cavity of the mech to reveal its biggest secret "you now know who I am too."

"Olivia!?" Judy gasped, her paws shooting up to cover her mouth with shock.

"But you-uh-Robot-oh god!" Nick rambled with shock before asking "Do your Dads know?"

"No." Olivia answered, stepping out of the mech and onto the waiting paw of Luna before running up her arm and resting in her usual spot on the vixen's shoulder.

"And neither do mine." Kion added.

"…You're both technically adults so they don't need to be told." Judy accepted, her head still spinning from the latest revelation.

"So let's get down to it, eh? What do we need to do to get deputized?" Luna asked the burning question.

Judy took a breath before answering "If you are deputized you'll have to follow some specific rules or you'll lose your legal status."

"Such as?" Hannah asked, standing next to Robyn and taking comfort from her love's scent.

"No killing, no unnecessary violence, no evidence tampering and that all crimes you stop must reported to the ZPD." Judy listed.

"Sounds fair." Robyn accepted "We pretty much do that already."

"But we're going to need to know more about what you actually do, how you operate and how you keep one another safe." Nick pointed out.

"We can answer that one." Robin sr. spoke up triggering glares from his son and daughter-in-law "The team works like this; Olivia is the team leader with Luna as second in command, the four rookies work under them."

"Every night we're available for support if needed," Marian said "with Robin as quartermaster and me on hacking duty."

"Where do you do this?" Jack asked, kind of peeved that Marian was breeching her plea deal by hacking again.

"The secret bunker." Kodi chimed in.

"But where is it?" Jack clarified.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret." Kodi grinned cheekily.

"So how do you do this every night? Surely you'd be exhausted but I've noticed no fall in your school grades." Judy asked Robyn.

"We don't, we divide the work up. At 11pm a team of two will go out on patrol with Nana or Bella alerting us to any crimes in the area." Robyn explained.

"Who's Bella?" Nick asked, still looking at the now empty Spitfire mech with wonder.

"A virtual interface I created, she resides in Kodi's pick up." Olivia answered, hopping off Luna's shoulder and onto the snack table to grab a cookie.

"You have a talking truck?" Skye asked Kodi with a slight laugh.

"She's my baby." Kodi answered with a smile.

"So I'm going to assume that all six of you get together when there is a big mission, like the opera house?" Judy theorized.

"Yeah and the big op Tuesday night." Kion said absentmindedly, picking up a turkey sandwich from the snack table.

"Dude!" Robyn snapped while the other team members shot the lion a frustrated look and the elder Wildes shook their heads.

"What's happening Tuesday night?" Nick asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

Olivia grumbled a little before answering "We've got intel that Rattigan has a massive drug shipment is coming into Zootopia, we're planning on stopping them."

"Great, give me the details and the ZPD can help." Judy responded.

"No." Luna shot down "After the Rose Thorn, there isn't a chance, we all know there is a serious informant problem in the ZPD."

"Luna listen…" Judy began to argue but stopped herself "ugh, it's true. I feel like I can only trust a handful of my own cops."

"Mom." Luna spoke, seeing the chief so dejected made her heart ache, without hesitation Luna went over and sat by her "You know if things were different we'd clue you in."

"I know, sweetie." Judy smiled for the first time that day.

Luna soul felt elated at being called 'sweetie', the pet name Judy had called her since she was a kit, somehow this felt like a step forward in repairing the damage done.

"You know there might be a way we can still make this a win for the cops and renew some trust in the ZPD." Marian mused "Nick, how long will it take to deputize the team?"

"I started working on the papers before the Opera House incident, they could sign them on Monday." Nick answered, still distrusting of his mother.

"What are you planning?" Olivia asked, munching on the cookie that was way too big for her.

"As soon as the Ceartais op starts, we contact the ZPD, Rattigan can't influence his informants on such short notice. The ZPD sets up some roadblocks and bingo the bad guys are caught by the ZPD and Ceartais working together, hell it would even make a great photo op." Marian painted a picture.

"I can take care of that." Sasha smiled with a little wave.

"Not bad, darling." Robin sr. planned.

"Fine." Judy groused, hating to admit it was a good plan from her in-laws.

"So is that it? Are we deputized?" Kodi asked, wanting the tension in the room to end.

"…Yes." Nick said in a most disagreeable tone "I'll give you the papers tomorrow."

A sense of relief washed over the room with Robyn vocalizing the feeling "Thank god for that."

"But I want to say something to you two," Nick glowered at his parents "if anything happens to any of these kids, I'm holding you two responsible, are we clear?"

"Crystal." Marian replied.

"We understand son." Robin sr. concurred.

"And I'm uninviting you two to the Bunnyburrow trip, I'm mad at you guys and that's not going to go away anytime soon." Nick piled on.

"But Dad, it's my birthday while we're Bunnyburrow, you can't-"Robyn started to protest.

"Ok Nick, we'll stay away." Robin sr spoke over his youngest grandchild.

"Grandad?" Robyn gasped.

"Listen to your Dad, Robyn." Robin sr. affirmed.

"…Ok." The ginger hybrid replied, her ears going droopy.

Marian then stood up and declared "Well, me and Robin best be going."

"You're leaving?" Wade asked, surprised by the suddenness.

"The kids and their parents need to talk this out, if we're here no progress will be made." Marian reasoned.

"The fact that the kids aren't getting arrested is a win enough for us." Robin sr. admitted, standing up as well.

Ten minutes later after Robin Sr. and Marian left the mood in the room was a lot brighter, Sasha was having a spirited chat with Olivia as she took some pictures of the mech. Jack and Skye were asking Hannah about her escapades as Bullet, Wade, Gazelle and Kodi were all grilling poor Kion for details about Jasiri while the Wildes were on the sofa chatting.

"I'm sorry about shouting at you guys the other night." Luna apologised.

"It's alright kiddo, it's just this situation has really put us through hell." Nick expressed "You know why me and your mom are mad at my parents, right?"

"Yeah, I'd be pretty pissed to." Luna agreed.

"Just give us time, we can fix it eventually." Judy tried to be positive.

"So, am I ungrounded?" Robyn asked.

"I guess, it's not like you'd obey anyway." Judy smirked.

"That was an emergency." Robyn justified.

"The price for the new locks on the door is coming out of your allowance." Nick gave a sly smile.

"Fine." Robyn accepted, hiding the fact that she was paid a wage by Olivia.

"Listen, I know I'm being a little paranoid here but I need to ask you two something," Luna said with a nerve riddled voice "are we ok? I mean, do you two hate us?"

Judy was the first to respond but it wasn't with words, the 41 year old doe rabbit hand shot up and quickly pinched Luna's ear.

"Ow!" Luna squealed, unable to ignore the fact that this was a trait Judy had picked up from Marian.

"Never ask something so stupid again." Judy said firmly, before wrapping her arms around both her daughters "You're always going to be our girls, no matter what."

Nick then extended his arms and enveloped the three souls he loved most in the world and added "And we'll always love you."

Luna closed her amber eyes and burned this moment and feeling to memory, she wanted to remember this moment. Sure, her mental health wasn't the best, she fought bad guys on a nightly basis and she was struggling to navigate her sexuality, but she knew, no matter what, her family was going to be there for her.

000

In the depths of the wrecked casino/hotel ship that Drowned called home, there were four frightened mammals huddled together in one of the more expensive suites of the ship's former hotel. The four mammals had been kidnapped from the charity auction at the opera house by The Drowned and all of them knew one another, they were all on the board of directors for the same company; Phelps arms. The four had been locked in the room for so long they had gone through the same fear fuelled conversations over and over again, but that didn't start one of them starting the cycle again "We're going to die on this damn boat." William Rockhoof, a brown furred stallion lamented.

"Christ, Will stop it, we're not going to die." Laura Dullclaw told off, the small Kodkod feline was finishing the food the captors had given her.

"He's just scared, give him a break." Charlotte Burrows, a tired looking meerkat responded.

"We're all scared, just this little pussy wants to cry about it." Alonso Armour, a salty armadillo bitched.

Will the horse didn't even register the insult he was too lost in his own fears "They're going to execute us and post it on the god damn net, I know it." He grimly predicted.

"See? He's being a pussy." Alonso griped "Look Will, if they wanted to kill us they would've done it by now."

"That's true." Charlotte agreed "Maybe they need something off us? They have been targeting the company for a while."

"Yeah, first trying to abduct my son, then raiding our facilities and finally nabbing us." Laura listed, feeling saddened when she pictured her adopted son Mo and wondered when she would see him again.

"So why have they got it out for us?" Will asked, wishing for an answer that would make sense.

"We make weapons, the company probably screwed them over somehow." Alonso hypothesised.

"Correction; Eustice Phelps must've screwed them over." Charlotte expressed "That moose is crooked as hell."

"We're no saints either," Laura admitted "but yeah Phelps is probably the reason."

"I can't believe that prick got away, did you see him run as soon as the Drowned stormed into the room with that Bunny bodyguard of his?" Alonso seethed.

"At least he got shot in the arm." Charlotte grinned darkly "Maybe we got lucky and he bled out."

"Charlotte!" Will gasped.

"Oh, don't act shocked, Phelps is the most corrupt bastard on the planet." Charlotte justified.

"Maybe they want money off us?" Laura steered the conversation "Or locations of weapon stores?"

But before the conversation continued the sounds of the hotel room door unlocking caused the four business directors to freeze with fright, they had only been given food and water an hour ago, it was way too early for another meal. Everyone stepped away from the door, scared of what awaited them. The door opened and in walked two Drowned cultists armed with assault rifles but who followed next really terrified the board members; it was Fuli, they instantly recognised from the news and the online execution videos, this young cheetah appeared calm but all of them knew about the murderous beast that resided inside of her.

"Good afternoon." Fuli greeted "I trust you know who I am."

"Y-yes." Will choked, the stallion was rooted in position by terror.

"And I know who you four are, that's why I instructed my brothers and sisters to kidnap you." Fuli continued, walking into the room and taking a good look at her four captives.

"Is that why you attacked? To get us?" Laura asked with disbelief.

"It was one of the reasons, it was mainly to kill as many VIPs as possible and leave Zootopia without leadership but alas, Team Ceartais got in our way."Fuli confided.

"But there's got to be a reason you want us? What do you need? Money? Weapons? We can get that for you!" Charlotte begged desperately.

"Or get you what you really want, Eustice Phelps himself! We know how to get to him." Alonso tried to spice up the deal.

Fuli was quiet for a moment before chuckling darkly "Rich mammals are all the same as soon as they realise their lives are in danger they are willing to pay any price to save their own hides, even another mammal's life…pathetic."

"But you kidnapped us to get our money and our weapons right!? We'll give you anything you want if you let us go!" Will implored.

"Oh you think we want your money and more of your company's weapons? But why would The Drowned need something that already belongs to us." Fuli replied, relishing in the looks of terrified surprise on the corrupt elites.

"W-what?" Laura sounded.

"Maybe one of my brethren can explain," Fuli said before calling "why don't you say hello brother?"

Then from outside the hallway entered a figure into the dilapidated hotel suite, dressed in a fine suit with his left arm in a sling, the four board members looked at the mammal with utter shock as they looked upon Eustice Phelps "Thank you, sister." Phelps said with a slight bow.

"Phelps!?" Alonso yelled.

"You're helping these terrorists?" Laura whispered with disbelief.

"We're not terrorists," Phelps said firmly "we're doing the wave's will."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Phelps is with the Drowned!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC it's a flashback chapter where we learn the origins of Fuli and The Drowned! Please Review and C YA SOON...)


	40. Death and Rebirth

(AN/ Hey folks it's crewefox here with another chapter of SOC, it's a quick update because I'm really busy with university work, anyway let's get cracking long awaited flashback to the Drowned's origin...)

 **Chapter 39- Death and Rebirth**

 _The Crimson Mermaid Casino, 23_ _rd_ _April, 2032. 9.10pm…21 minutes before the wave_

Fuli Duma was on autopilot, her actions and spoken words related to her job came out almost robotically as she glanced at her watch for the eleventh time in a minute. The twenty year old cheetah was anxious about the time because her break relief was over an hour late…and she really need to use the bathroom. "Congratulations sir." She said with zero enthusiasm, as she turned over the house's cards to show her losing hand.

"Hehehehe." A soused porcupine tittered as he gathered up his chips he had won from the house and the other players at the table "Tonight's my lucky night."

"Another game?" Fuli asked the pointless question, the answer was always yes with gamblers. Fuli had been working her minimum wage job as a croupier in the Crimson Mermaid Casino for a little over four months and from the moment she started, she had despised it, but like most mammals who worked there, she needed the money. Fuli never thought she'd be in this position a year ago, back then she was committed college student, majoring in psychology with a minor in political science, but one simple case of mistaken identity had ruined all that. Fuli had attended a rally, protesting the College's administrators' decision to increase the rent on student accommodation by $100 a week, effectively pricing mammals out of the campus. The protest had been peaceful until the admins got spooked and called the ZPD in to end the protest, some of the cops were a little too rough and the peaceful protested descended into chaos, a brick was thrown from the crowd and struck one of the cops in the face and that's where things got really out of hand, cops started arresting any student they could get their paws on, including Fuli. The Cheetah had expected a slap on the wrist seeing as she had committed no crimes, but the cop that was hit with a brick swore that he saw a cheetah throw it, immediately all blame was placed on the innocent Fuli. She was charged with assaulting a police officer and even though she was proven innocent at her trial the college kicked her off her course lumbering her with all the student debt she had accumulated in her first two years of study. Fuli had no family to speak of, she was a child of the system, raised in children's homes, so she had no one to fall back on. She was desperate and took the first job she found; croupier in this sleazy casino.

As Fuli dealt the cards for another round of blackjack she glanced at her watch once again and started to fidget on the spot due to her need to use the bathroom, she noticed her manager an uptight Giant Otter known as Rosanna glance at her with a dirty look from the middle of the casino floor. Fuli had called her over thirty minutes earlier to ask her break relief was late and that she really needed to go the restroom but she just dismissed her with "Just hold it in and don't be so dramatic."

Fuli despised Rosanna; she was rude, elitist, classist and worked her staff like slaves using every legal loophole in the book. It made the feline sick to think the stuck up otter earned nearly four times what she did just for standing around and bullying mammals. Fuli removed her gaze from Rosanna to avoid getting in her bad books again, instead she looked around the casino floor and was left with a familiar bitter feeling. The casino deck was packed with about 500 mammals, the guests were drunk and betting their disposable incomes while the workers slaved away for their bleak paycheques, but the way Fuli saw it these workers were lucky compared to other places on this ship. For, you see gambling was legal in Zootopia and the most prestigious establishment was of course The Palmtop Casino/Hotel so for The Crimson Mermaid to compete it had to do something a little more decadent and debauched. This ship was nicknamed the 'Sin Ship' for the services it offered, there of course was gambling but there were also a small fighting area so mammals could bet on boxing and MMA fights which wasn't so bad but the lower deck was home to a strip club and brothel offering services from all genders to all sexualities. Fuli personally didn't believe that prostitution was a bad thing, if it was regulated properly and if the workers were willing…but these workers weren't willing. Most of the workers on the lower decks were poor immigrants that the casino owners took advantage of, they promised a career on a glittering floating casino but were instead wrangled into a hell from which they could never escape. Reports of violence and rape were hushed up by the bosses and if any of the immigrant workers made a fuss a quick call to the government and ICE agents would cart them away, it was also common knowledge that drug use was rife in the lower decks most likely to keep the workers trapped. Fuli had the freedom to leave this job if she wanted to but the workers in the lower decks would never have that freedom and that made her feel sick to her stomach with sadness and guilt. Fuli looked at the card players at her blackjack table and wondered if any of them used the services of the lower deck, the answer was most likely yes. This ship was marketed as an escape from the real world, where indulgence was a priority, a hedonistic paradise like ancient Rome and the rich came here in their droves. All of sudden Fuli was torn from her thoughts of disgust by the jumpy voice approaching from the left "F-Fuli I'm so sorry!"

Fuli turned to see her colleague and more importantly friend, Bunga, rushing over fixing his bow tie as he did so. "Bunga, please tell me you're here to take over." Fuli asked the honey badger, hopping from foot to foot due to her need to use the bathroom.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. Rossana had me helping out on the bar even though I said I was doing break relief." Bunga hastily explained hopping up onto a stool so he could deal cards to the waiting gamblers.

"It's ok, see you in half an hour." Fuli eased, before dashing off quickly towards the nearest restroom.

Ten minutes later Fuli had finished up in the bathroom, gone to the staff room and microwaved herself a cheese & bean burrito (Which tasted awful) and had made her way to the outer deck so she could indulge in her one vice; cigarettes. Fuli got a cig out of the pack stuffed in her back pocket and quickly lit it up, inhaling the poison. She looked out onto the water, to the west she could see the glittering lights of Tundra Town a couple of miles away and to the east less than a quarter of a mile away was a collection of craggy rocks home to flocks of seabirds who made a lot of noise, even at night. Fuli always enjoyed looking at the seabirds on her break, the Crimson Mermaid would always settle here so they weren't too far away from Zootopia and outside their jurisdiction if any crimes were committed. Even so, Fuli liked this spot, it made her feel calm and would help wash away some of the anger she felt towards her employers. Fuli had nearly finished her cigarette when she heard an odd sound coming from the left, about ten or so metres away from her was a fellow croupier, a young hippo named Beshte, crying with a middle aged pygmy goat called Lorna trying to comfort him. She flicked her cigarette into the sea and walked over to them "Beshte, what's the matter?" the cheetah asked in a caring voice.

"Oh Fuli, it's you." Lorna spoke up, the hotel maid was stood on the bench Beshte was sat on putting a gentle hoof on the Hippo's arm "Poor Beshte just got some bad news."

"What happened?" Fuli queried, sounding concerned.

"I just got fired," Beshte wept, holding up his phone "by goddamn email."

Fuli took the phone from Beshte and looked at the screen, it was a letter terminating employment but read out loud the part that rang alarm bells "…due to company restricting we are ending the contracts of 200 employees, this a notice of seven days, you will have to work this period or forfeit your final paycheque. You were selected because you have had more than five days of sickness leave in the last year and therefore less reliable…This is insane! They can't do this!?"

"They already have." Lorna sighed "About a dozen of the maids I work with found out an hour ago."

"No, we can't accept this." Fuli snarled "I'm the union representative on this ship and I'm going to fight for these jobs."

"Y-you'll really think they'll listen?" Beshte sniffed, wiping away some of his tears.

"They'll listen if we hold a surprise strike while also informing ZNN." Fuli planned aloud "Now let's get back in there and get you and the others your jobs back!"

The cheetah stormed back to the casino floor to try and look for the manager Rosanna but failed to find her, she told Beshte and Lorna to wait while she searched the lower decks for her. Fuli was descending the staff only stairwell to lower levels, passing by a mountain lion carrying a case of champagne, but as they passed one another the ship rocked violently slamming both cats into the metal railings of the stairwell, the mountain lion dropped the case of champagne causing the bottles to smash all over the place. Fuli was just about to ask if the mountain lion was ok when the ship rocked again more violently, the moan of metal and the sounds of startled mammals echoed through the stairwell. It actually felt like the ship was moving which should've been impossible given that they had set the anchor down, Fuli watched with horror as the mountain lion fell backwards down the stairs with his right ankle getting caught in between the metal stairs and breaking. The mountain lion let out a cry of anguish as he lay there sprawled and trapped on the stairs, "Oh my god." Fuli shuddered, looking at the horrific open fracture, she tried to regain her balance so she could go help the injured mammal but then the Ship collided with something. The sound of screeching metal, terrified screams and the ship's alarm system going off muddled her senses, a massive piece of the air conditioning vent fell from the ceiling, blocking the way up out of the very narrow passage. "T-the rocks, we must've hit the rocks!" Fuli exclaimed with panic.

All of sudden the announcement system came to life with a pre recorded announcement " **PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EVACUATION STATION AND WAIT FOR A MEMBER OF THE CREW TO ESCORT YOU TO THE LIFEBOATS."** And the message kept repeating over and over while the red alarm lights flashed.

"No." Fuli uttered realising if the evacuation order had been given it meant they were taking on water fast. She looked at the mountain lion and realised she'd have to free him quick, Fuli clambered down to the mountain lion while saying "We've got to get out of here." She immediately tried to free the broken ankle from in between the metal stairs.

"Holy shit this hurts!" The mountain lion bellowed with pain, as Fuli tried to free his ankle.

Then a sound reached Fuli's ears that filled her with dread; rushing water. The cheetah looked behind her and saw seawater at the bottom of the stairwell and it was rising fast "No, no, no!" Fuli panicked, trying harder to free the mountain lion's ankle but it just wouldn't budge.

She kept on trying and before she knew it the seawater had reached her chest and it was still rising, this is when her fear got the better of her, she stopped trying to free the mountain lion and began scurrying up the metal staircase leaving her co-worker to his doom, she looked back briefly to see his outstretched paw sticking out of the rising water desperately trying to grab on to something to pull himself out before the water swallowed the paw to. Fuli pushed against the air conditioning system blocking the way up but it was too heavy, she cursed and screamed as she tried over and over to get air conditioner to move but it just wouldn't budge, the water swelled around her and she realised there was no way out, she would need a miracle to escape now. Fuli kept her head above water as long as possible and before she became fully submerged she took one last intake of air, the feline continued to push against the air conditioner put tried her best to stay calm, she knew she needed to hold her breath as long as possible. But her chest ached and her body was being punished by the biting cold of the seawater, Fuli tried to focus on something else instead of the pain so she kept looking at her watch as she pushed against the air conditioner. One minute passed and the temptation to open her mouth was becoming unbearable, she kept on pushing though despite coming to scary conclusion that this was her last moments of life. As she was her watch tick to nearly two minutes it felt like her lungs were going to explode, she took her paws of the air conditioning unit and gave up, she was about to open her mouth and let the water fill her lungs when suddenly the air conditioner was lifted out of the way and a huge hand reached out and grabbed her. The next Fuli knew she was being dragged out of the sea water and being laid down on the higher level of the stairs, as she wheezed and gulped in as much air as she could her hazy eyes made out the shape of her hippo friend, Beshte. "Bes…" Was all Fuli had managed to pant before blacking out.

It was an hour before Fuli awoke, she opened her green eyes to find she was lying on the ground of the casino floor and was no longer dressed in her soaked croupier uniform but in the tacky souvenir 'Crimson mermaid' hoodie and sweat pants from the gift shop. She turned her head and saw the casino floor was trashed with everything leaning a little to the left, the dim emergency lighting was on and she could her voices around her. "What?" she croaked before coughing and spluttering.

"Oh thank god!" Lorna expressed, the pygmy goat maid looking down at the cheetah.

"Beshte, she's awake!" A relieved Bunga called over.

"Guys?" Fuli spoke with a weak voice as she sat up.

"Don't scare us like that," Beshte breathed "I thought you were a goner."

"You saved me." Fuli suddenly remembered, she wanted to stand up and hug her friend but she still felt shaken.

"When we realised the ship was taking on water Beshte rushed to find you." Bunga told with a smile.

Fuli was about to say thank you but then fear struck her again "Water?! We're sinking!"

"Hush now, we're not sinking." Lorna comforted, her hooves taking hold of Fuli's paws "The ship ran aground against the small rocky islands, the bottom six decks are flooded but everywhere else is fine."

"…All those mammals." Fuli muttered, realising how many mammals could be dead "Is there any lifeboats left?"

"No." Bunga shook his head, sounding mournful "And the ones that did get away either smashed up on the rocks or got chopped up by the propellers."

"W-where's the coast guard? Are we being rescued?!" Fuli asked further with her dread staining each word.

"Look Fuli something had happened in Zootopia, you can't see any lights coming from the city." Lorna explained in the calmest way possible "We think a tsunami has torn up the coast, that's what caused the ship to hit the rocks."

"No…" Fuli mouthed, her fear clear in her green eyes "But we can radio for help!"

"The bridge got tore through when we hit the rocks, the captain and his crew are dead." Beshte piled on the bad news "So no radio and no one can get a phone signal way out here."

"This…" Fuli didn't know how to react, she felt numb.

"Come on, let's go to the ballroom that's where everyone is gathered." Lorna tried to motivate the shaken cheetah.

It took them a couple of minutes to reach the ballroom on the other side of the deck, walking past corpses crushed in the panic to get to the lifeboats. They entered to see just over a hundred and fifty mammals made up of both guests and staff huddled together and listening to the casino floor manager Rosanna, the giant otter was stood up on stage. "Great, she's still alive." Fuli grimaced with sarcasm.

"Ladies and gentlemammals you must all remain in this ballroom for your own safety, the staff will take care of any food and drink needs you may require while we wait for the coast guard to rescue us." Rosana spoke out loud, there was a murmur of fear among the crowd.

Fuli then looked on with a dumbfounded expression as the guests began to order food as if they were in a restaurant and bottles of water were handed out without any hesitation. Fuli saw the flaw in this and immediately protested "Whoa hold up, stop handing out water like that."

"Fuli?" Rosanna sounded, looking at the cheetah with a mix of bewilderment and annoyance.

"We need to be careful with our food and water supplies, we need to ration it out." Fuli said stepping forward.

"Miss Duma need I remind you that this is ship who's priority it is to serve it's customer's needs." Rosanna said in a condescending voice.

"What our customers AND staff need is to stay alive." Fuli countered, climbing up on the stage and stared down at the giant otter.

"Fuli you're stepping out of line, I order you and the rest of the staff to serve these customers food and drinks." Rosana commanded.

Fuli ignored Rosanna and turned to the crowd who were watching the exchange with wonder and concern, she took a deep breath before addressing the crowd "Listen up, the radio is out and Zootopia had probably been hit with a tsunami so help isn't coming right away, it could be a few days. Until then we'll have to ration food and water, if there are any medically trained mammals here please help the injured, everyone else wi-"

"Fuli speak another word and you're fired!" Rosana threatened, poking the cheetah in the chest.

Fuli just looked at the manager and growled "Go on then, fire me. Fire me like the 200 other mammals the company sent dismissal emails to."

Rosanna's face twisted with anger before she hissed "You're finished, I'll make sure you never get employed again!"

"Well isn't that peachy." Fuli brushed off before turning back to the crowd "Ok, hands up who wants me in change." Within a few seconds three quarters of the room had their paws or hooves raised in favour of Fuli causing Rosanna to look at her staff and some of the guests with pure distain.

"You'll regret this." Rosanna threatened.

"Probably, but right now keep everyone alive is the only thing I care about." Fuli replied coolly but a sudden memory of the drowning mountain lion's outstretchedpaw flickered through mind filling her guilt.

It took Fuli ten minutes to organise the mammals, 153 to be precise, into different teams; food gathering, another gathering clothing, bedding and medical supplies and the final team was moving the dead bodies to another part of the ship to prevent any potential disease spreading through the survivors. Fuli was helping move the bodies to an empty storeroom when she noticed a shook male moose kneeling over the body of a large tan coloured pig "Damn it." The moose spoke, his fists clenched in frustration.

"You ok?" Fuli asked stepping over to moose.

The moose was wearing a now creased suit with a loose tie, his eyes were both sad and angry "Sorry, just this guy was my friend."

"I'm so sorry." Fuli sympathised.

"Why'd he have to insist on coming on this boat? Damn it Tim." The moose vented, as he opened the dead pig's blazer and searched his pockets.

"What are looking for?" Fuli asked with curiosity.

"Tim always brought a satellite phone with him on trips," The moose quickly answered before signing "typical his phone must be in his hotel suite on deck 7."

"A satellite phone? We'd could call for help with that." Fuli's face lit up.

"Yeah that's what I thought but last time I checked most of deck 7 is under water." The moose lamented.

"Damn…" Fuli reacted simply.

"You know what you did back there was pretty cool, you really stepped up." The moose complemented, standing up and beginning to drag his dead friend's body.

"Someone needed to." Fuli replied, the image of Rosana's irked face came to mind.

"Well with you in charge we have a chance of getting out of this place alive." The moose spoke his mind "Your name's Fuli, right?"

"Yes, and you are?" Fuli asked back politely, as she lifted up the body of a dead hedgehog.

"Eustice, Eustice Phelps." The moose answered.

An hour later the gathering parties had returned and what they had come back was underwhelming to say the least, there was no way these supplies were going to last long. As everyone went to sleep, Fuli stayed up to guard the supplies which were gathered at the bar, as she was searching behind the bar for anything that may have been overlooked she found a stationary draw with a blank notebook and some pens. Fuli had always been the type to keep a diary, it was therapeutic to her to write down what she was going through and how she was feeling and over the coming days this small notebook would become her only way to channel her emotions…

 **April 24** **th**

 _As soon as dawn came we were surrounded by thick fog, we can't see Zootopia which means they can't see us either but we found some signal flares as soon as the fog clears we'll set them off, hopefully someone will see them. Beshte and Lorna did an inventory of supplies, they say the supplies at the moment will only last four days for 153 mammals. The restaurants were mainly on deck 5 and they're all underwater now. Rosanna tried to argue with me today but Eustice stepped in and defended me, not bad for a rich guy._

 **April 25** **th**

 _Still foggy. We're down to 151 mammals, two guests died trying to crawl down to the side of the ship to get to a life boat, one fell and smashed onto the rocks, the other drowned. No food found today but some medical supplied were found in a hotel room on deck 7, this guest must've been really sick there is even a half full oxygen tank in his room. Lorna is trying to keep everyone's spirits up, she's so positive, she keeps on saying she needs to get back to Zootopia so she can see her kids get into college. I keep on thinking about that drowning mountain lion in the stairwell, every time someone mentions death I see his paw outstretched, reaching for me._

 **April 26** **th**

 _Still foggy outside. Rosanna and a dozen of the guests are starting to demand more food even though there is hardly any left, I've put Bunga and Beshte on guard duty for the supplies. Lorna has started to repair mammals clothes using dental floss and the pin of her nametag, I don't know how she keeps smiling. All I can think about is that poor mountain lion, it pains me not to know his name but knowing his name won't help ease my guilt. Spoke for a good couple of hours with Eustice today, I hardly believe that we share the same politics, he told me of how he took his Dad's failing munitions plant and turned it into an empire but he also told me of the dark side of his business, that his shareholders are corrupt._

 **April 27** **th**

 _A storm hit the ship today, we let off the signal flares but no one came. Food is gone, only bottled water left. We are desperate, mammals are fighting and Rosanna seems to have amassed a following who want me removed…I'd like to see her try, I already died in that stairwell, I drowned and this is just borrowed time, I'm convinced of that. I'm starting to hate some of the guests, they still look down at us despite being in the same shit situation as the rest of us. I'm starting to think this whole thing happened for a reason, that the wave came to test us, like the survival of the fittest. Eustice, Bunga and Beshte all say similar things, maybe we're just going crazy._

 **April 28** **th**

 _Eustice has a plan, we've been exploring the ship and we figure that only half of deck 6 is flooded that means his friend's satellite phone may still be safe in the hotel room. He and Lorna calculated that it would take four minutes to swim through the underwater parts of the deck to get to the suite but we need a mammal that can hold their breath, specifically a marine mammal. Beshte tried but he's too big to get through the debris. We told the plan to the survivors but no one wants to volunteer, even though Rosana is an otter and could get it easily. Rosanna's group demand control of the supplies then maybe she'll think about…I HATE HER! Rosanna and her rich followers are all classist, elitist, evil bastards. These are the mammals that needed to die in the wave, entitled sons of bitches who think their wealth makes them more important. I started to think about Zootopia; I wonder how much is under water, I wonder how many mammals are dead and pray only the strong survived. I hope the wave drowned the rich, the speciests, the criminals, the rapists and all the other scum that stain mammalkind. I found a knife while searching the security room, I'm keeping it on me in case any of Rosanna's group tries anything._

 **April 29** **th**

 _Lorna is missing, we've looked everywhere and can't find her! Did someone hurt her? I know I should suspect Rosanna but my gut is telling me it's not her. Everyone is hungry, everyone is angry and I'm pretty sure everyone is going to die. Why did the wave let us live if we're only going to die…No! We're already dead, we already drowned, we are the drowned. I shouldn't fear death since I've already died but whoever hurt Lorna will fear me._

Fuli was taken from her rambling writing by a paw gripping her shoulder and giving it a frantic shake, she turned to see Bunga with tears in his eyes "F-Fuli…" he said with a quivering bottom lip

"Bunga, what's wrong?" Fuli asked with concern, getting up from her seat.

"We've found Lorna, she's gone, she's…." Bunga was unable to continue, he just cried.

"Oh god." Fuli gasped, putting a paw over her mouth "Where is she?"

Bunga led Fuli towards the store room where the dead staff and guests were being stored, she saw a crowd of survivors gathered near the door and could hear shouts "Get off me!" and "You can't prove shit!". Fuli pushed through the crowd and was left stunned by what she saw; Lorna's lifeless body lay on the ground, her guts ripped open and both her legs were without fur or much flesh, teeth marks were dotted around her body and her death mask was not of terror but confusion, it was like she was asking 'Why?'a few feet away a thrashing male leopard was being held down by Eustice Phelps and Beshte, the leopard's mouth was smeared with blood; he had killed and eaten Lorna.

"You ate her." Fuli spoke with quiet rage, producing her knife from her hoodie pocket.

"No! No I didn't, I found her like that!" The Leopard denied, he was one of Rosana's group, he was a stock broker named Makucha.

"Don't lie!" Bunga cried "We found you with blood on your mouth and trying to hide her body."

"Maybe he's telling the truth!" Rosanna piped up.

Fuli looked at the sea otter and pointed the knife at her while snarling "Don't say a god damn word."

"I've had enough this," Phelps grunted before twisting the leopard's wrist "tell us the truth."

"Fuck you!"Makucha blasted before roaring in pain.

"Admit it!" Beshte bellowed.

"Fine; I did it!" Makucha growled "I did what I had to!"

"She was a mammal, she was a mother, she was our friend." Fuli simmered.

"She was just a maid." Makucha responded "She was nothing."

Fuli's green eyes narrowed "Just a maid? She worked nearly sixty hours a week to support her family, she was the kindest mammal I knew, she'd give you her last dollar if you asked her and you say she was nothing."

"It was me or her." Makucha gave a blood stained smirk.

Fuli had heard enough, it was time to act "Stand him up." She instructed Beshte and Phelps.

As the moose and hippo made the leopard get to his feet the murderer taunted "What are you going to do? Make me walk the plank?"

"No." Fuli snarled before quickly stepping forward and stabbing the leopard in the heart, everyone around her gasped or screamed. Fuli expected to feel angry, or some sort of guilt for killing a mammal, instead she felt calm. It puzzled her, as she pulled the knife out of Makucha's chest and looked at the bloodied blade she felt serene there was no anger, no fear and no sadness "It's because I'm already dead." She whispered to herself.

"Are you crazy!?" Rosanna screamed "You just killed him!"

Fuli looked at Rosanan and her panicky followers and spoke bluntly "He deserved to die."

"Now everyone knows what you are, you're insane! As soon as we get back to dry land you're going to prison!" Rosanna threatened.

"To do that, we'd need the satellite phone that YOU refuse to swim and get." Fuli said, wiping the blood off her knife.

"Well we'll see about that!" Rosana barked, rushing off towards the large passenger staircase to deck 7 while Fuli was already planning her next step.

Thirty minutes later Rosanna emerged from the sea water holding the satellite phone that was wrapped in a few plastic bags to prevent it getting wet, it was an easy swim for an otter and she had found the hotel suite with ease. Rosana looked up at all the survivors who gathered, they looked relieved when they saw the satellite phone. Rosana looked smugly at Fuli before marching up the stairs towards Phelps and passing him the phone "Now call the mainland." She ordered.

"You could've done this days ago." Fuli commented "If you had done this when Eustice had first said Lorna would be alive."

"Don't start with me Duma!" Rosana snapped

"You put everyone here at risk because of your ego, despicable." Fuli spoke with an eerily clam voice.

"I…" Rosanna had no response, she looked at the crowd and soon realised they were looking at her with hate.

"The wave destroyed lives, only the strongest were left, but because of you more mammals died." Fuli added stepping forwards before pushing Rosana down the stairs, the otter's head smashed against the marble staircase dazing her as she landed a step away from the water.

"Please." Rosanna begged, this was the first time she had ever sounded scared.

Fuli descended the staircase and declared "I think the wave made a mistake letting you live." The cheetah then grabbed the stunned and bleeding giant and otter by the head and forced her head underwater. Rosana thrashed around trying to wriggle free but Fuli dug her claws into her skull, the otter didn't have chance to take a breath before going underwater and her panicking depleted her oxygen quickly…she stopped moving, Fuli let go and let the dead mammal float in the water. The cheetah turned to the rest of the survivors most of them wearing satisfied looks on their faces but some still fearful, Fuli lifted her hood before speaking "The Wave didn't discriminate and neither shall we; there is no more prey or predator, rich or poor, Male or Female, all that is left are the survivors of the wave. The wave tested us, drowned us and we were reborn equal. We are the drowned."

(AN/ So what did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! There will be no chapter next monday because a massive assignment is due for university so there won't be a update until january 29th. Please review and c ya soon...)


	41. Si vis pacem, para bellum

(AN/ I'm back! Yes after a 2 week break to care of a massive university assignment I'm back with a new chapter of SOC, so thank you everyone for their patience and continuing to support the story. I'd also like to thank the TAS dev team who helped me develop and beta this chapter and to Alex Boehm who wrote the KiSiri part of this chapter. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 40- Si vis pacem, para bellum**

 _The Drowned HQ, The Wreck of the Crimson Mermaid, 4_ _th_ _September 2032…_

Phelps couldn't help displaying a small smile as he saw his fellow board members' lifeless corpses were tossed overboard. The moose made sure they didn't have a painless death. He and Fuli had watched as the mammals writhed in pain at being exposed to deadly gas his company had developed. The gas' official designation was 'ST13X' but the scientists who developed it had nicknamed it 'Styx' after the deadly mythical river. The gas of course was an illegal chemical weapon but there were always buyers willing to pay for it. The buisnessmammal had no illusions about what he was; a merchant of death. Phelps focus was pulled away from the sight of sinking bodies by Fuli's soothing voice "And the wave claims more of the unworthy."

Phelps looked down at Fuli and added "And our goals will be unhindered, all their heirs are under eighteen which means I have control of the company, I can finally enact the wave's will without suspicion."

"I'll release the video of their execution in a couple of hours." Fuli replied, walking across the deck with Phelps following "How are things proceeding in Zootopia?"

"Well the police and MCB still think you're targeting me but they haven't let that gone public, I'm guessing they don't want to cause a panic." Phelps answered, the pair turned the corner to see a half a dozen cultists guarding Phelps' helicopter.

"And what about the 'Grand Test'?" Fuli asked, spying the uncomfortable sun bear known as Cloudkicker in the helicopter's cockpit.

"I'm still waiting for the federal government to finalise the private sector of my company for guarding the weather control plants around Zootopia, once the contracts are signed we can proceed as planned." Phelps explained "I'm just glad Mayor Wilde isn't in charge of the decision."

"Yes, he and his police chief wife make for a rather annoying thorn in our side." Fuli described "But Ceartais is still our biggest obstacle."

"I'm taking care of it, I've put a huge bounty on their heads. Mercs and assassins are coming from all over the globe for this contract." Phelps assured, signalling for Cloudkicker to start the aircraft's engines.

"Good," Fuli smiled, before turning to Phelps and giving him a hug of solidarity "until we meet again my friend."

"Keep our people safe." Phelps responded while hugging the cheetah back before releasing her and climbing into the passenger cabin of the helicopter. Phelps shut the door and strapped himself into his seat before waving at Fuli as Cloudkicker lifted the helicopter off the grounded ships' deck. Phelps get his eyes on Fuli and pondered how someone so smart, so driven and so influential could be so naïve. Phelps had given Fuli and The Drowned everything they wanted; he had secured the salvage deal for the Crimson Mermaid wreck so the port authority wouldn't suspect a thing, given them tools to repair and drain water from the ship, food and water, weapons and most importantly his experimental scenario imprinting program so they could brainwash more saps into joining their crazed cause. Phelps was Drowned in name alone, he didn't believe in societal change or the Wave's will all he believed in was money and Fuli was going to make him billions.

000

Ronin's opinion on killing the wicked hadn't changed since she started romancing a hero, she still enjoyed killing mammals who deserved to die. The lapin took it as a challenge when the kill had to be quiet, relished showing off her skills when it had to get messy but every so often a contract would come where she had to be creative. The contracts that usually involved her being creative were the kills that had to look like 'accidents' and on this Sunday night that's exactly the sort of contract she accepted. The target was a 41 year female Coati by the name of Veronica Turner, a district judge who took bribes off organised crime bosses and often imprisoned innocent mammals, going as far to murder a reporter who was about to expose her. The reporter's widower had put out the contract and Ronin was more than happy to accept it, the stipulation of course was that it had to look like an accident. Ronin had been shadowing her target most of the afternoon; the corrupt judge had gone to a bookstore, worked out at the gym and stopped off for a coffee on the way home. It was when Judge Turner had been in the coffee shop that Ronin had formed her plan, when the barista had asked Turner if she wanted a free hazelnut shot in her coffee the judge refused saying "No thank you, I have a pretty severe nut allergy."

Ronin, who had been dressed in her normal clothes she wore when she was Alice, had been in the queue at the coffee shop and had heard this very useful piece of info. Ronin bought her coffee and went back to her apartment to prepare for that night's kill. It was shortly after 8pm now and Ronin was perched in a tree in the back yard of Judge Turner's rainforest district home, the increased foliage of the rainforest district plus the current rainstorm would mask the assassin's movements. Ronin could see Tuner in her kitchen through the glass double doors that led to the backyard, she was cooking a seafood dish while listening to a song from a loud sound system from her living room. The assassin silently dropped out of the tree and moved with swift silence towards the house, she took cover behind some lawn furniture before fishing out what looked to be a small black remote control, she aimed it at the sound system through the living room window and pressed a button. All of a sudden the tracks started changing every couple of seconds. The coati judge stopped stirring the sauce of her dish and went into the living room, as soon as the Coati had her back turned Ronin went to the glass double doors and used the electric lock pick from her kit belt to unlock it. Ronin entered the kitchen and shut the door as quietly as possible before going over to the stove where Turner's dinner was simmering, the rabbit could hear the frustrated Coati trying to fix her sound system and felt it was safe to proceed. Ronin produced a small bag of ground pine nuts so fine it looked like dust, she poured the contents of the bag into the sauce and stirred it into the tomato based sauce with the wooden spoon already resting the saucepan, satisfied the ground pine nuts were undetectable she got out her remote and returned the sound system to normal before slinking off and hiding in the house. All Ronin had to do now was wait.

It didn't take long, twenty minutes later while Judge Turner was eating her dinner in front of the TV she quickly became aware that she was having an allergic reaction; her face swelled up, her airway was getting tight and her heart rate was increasing. The coati ran to her bedroom to fetch her EpiPen to help with the allergic reaction, she scrambled for her handbag and emptied the contents on the bed desperately searching for the EpiPen but it was nowhere to be found. Judge Turner's breathing was getting worse and her face had swollen up so much her left eye had completely shut, she collapsed to the floor and the allergic reaction overcame her body, in a weakened state she reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone to call an ambulance but before she could dial the phone was snatched out her hand. "Not so fast Madame." Ronin teased, her skull mask hiding her smile.

"Who…" Turner wheezed, her tongue was swelling now and protruding from her mouth, the coati reached out weakly to Ronin.

"It doesn't matter who I am, that's not what I want you to focus on." Ronin replied, getting out a small pocket sized photograph and placing it on the carpet in front of the dying Turner. The photo was a female elephant in her early thirties smiling happily "That was the reporter you had killed for trying to expose your crimes, my client wanted to make sure you knew why you had to die."

"Pl-ease…" Turner spluttered, drool pouring from her mouth as her face continued to inflate like a balloon.

"I'd say you've got about eight minutes til' you either suffocate or go into cardiac arrest, I suggest you spend that time begging your gods for forgiveness." Ronin said coldly, taking the photo away from Turner as not to get drool on it "Oh and if you're wondering about your EpiPen, it's right here." The bunny teased, waving the adrenaline filled injector pen in front of the helpless judge's face.

Ronin decided to wait out Turner's 'Accidental' death by checking her own phone, there were two messages; one from Luna and the other from Bo at The Burst Pipe tavern. Ronin opened up Luna's message first; it was a selfie of Luna in her penthouse bedroom in her PJs holding onto her plushie dragon Mr. Scales with the caption 'Come over soon xxx', Ronin smiled under her mask at this image. The bunny then opened up the second message from Bo which was a bit more serious 'I got you a job, got to Big Estate in Tundra town at 8pm tomorrow."

"Hmmm." Ronin sounded, wondering why FruFru Big would want to give her a contract.

000

Monday morning came and Nick had his first meeting of the day at city hall; with his eldest child. Luna had booked the first slot, 7am, to hand over the deputation contracts that the rest of the team had signed. Judy was attending the meeting as well, to be the second signature on behalf of the city. There was only one problem though; Nick was still hesitant over letting his daughters do something so dangerous, he had been staring at the papers for about three minutes when Luna groaned "Dad I know this is difficult but can you hurry it up? I've got to be scrubbed in surgery at 8.30."

"Just give me a sec…" Nick avoided, looking at the names of the team members on the dotted line. All of Ceartais had signed as their hero names but Nick could still tell his girls' handwriting.

"Slick, c'mon, we all agreed this was the right thing to do." Judy encouraged, standing beside the seated Nick.

"…Fine." Nick sighed in defeat, quickly putting his signature on the dotted line, before sliding it over to Judy so she could add hers.

"And we're done, Ceartais are official deputies of the Zootopia." Judy gave a sad smile, she wasn't completely happy with this outcome either but she knew a compromise had to be made, she wanted to be a part of her daughters' lives even if it wasn't a normal one.

"Thank you guys, I know this was hard but at least we can work together now." Luna said with a kind tone, walking around the desk and wrapping her parents in a hug.

"We can't help but worry, baby girl." Nick admitted, his eyes closed during the group hug.

"You may be superheroes but you and Robyn are still our kits." Judy added, but as she pulled back from the hug her nose picked up an oh-so familiar scent from Luna that puzzled her.

"I know, I know but try not to worry so much, we're pretty kick ass." Luna tried to joke "Anyway I best head to work."

"I best go too, I've left Nala to roll call and if I know her she's probably torn the rookies apart." Judy laughed nervously before getting on her tip toes and kissing Nick "Love you."

"Love you too, carrots." Nick replied warmly, watching Judy and Luna as they left his office.

Judy and Luna walked over the elevator in silence, they got in alone and it was only when the doors closed and Luna pressed the ground floor button that Judy asked "So when am I going to meet her?"

"Who?" Luna asked back, not realising what her Mom was implying.

"The doe you're dating." Judy said bluntly.

Luna's amber eyes went wide before babbling "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"You've been marked by her again, what was the name you said back the precinct? Alice, right?" Judy probed, taking a little pleasure from seeing her daughter's nervous manner.

"It's not what you think!" Luna gave the most cliché excuse ever.

" _Oh it's exactly what she thinks,"_ Andraste's voice played in Luna's head " _Luna and Alice sitting in a tree…"_

"Sweetie I told you before if you're scared of coming out, there's no need to be, your family will support you." Judy offered kindly, taking hold of her paw.

"It's complicated…" Luna spoke, wishing the elevator was quicker.

" _No it's not, just say; Mom I'm dating one of the world's deadliest assassins."_ Andraste teased within Luna's brain.

"Look I was scared before I came out as an inter, heck my mom hit the roof, but you don't have to worry about that. You saw how everyone was happy for Robyn when she came out as Bi, I just don't want you to feel like you have to hide." Judy said with love in her voice.

"Mom…I'm still trying to figure out what I am." Luna confided.

" _I'll tell you what you are; you're a mentally ill vigilante who loves a killer bunny."_ Andraste cackled which Luna was trying her best to ignore.

Judy gave a sombre smile before saying "Ok but when you are ready to go public, just know that your family will be there for you."

000

*beep beep* *beep beep* *beep beep*

The sound of the alarm clock woke Kion from his slumber, and the lion squinted his eyes against the bright light of a new day. Kion fumbled around on the nightstand, feeling for the alarm's off button, before he found it and put a stop to the obnoxious beeping. Kion's paw then returned to where it was originally, around Jasiri, who was sleeping nuzzled into his chest. The lion hoped that she wasn't woken by the alarm, but unfortunately the displeased sounds she made said otherwise.

"Did you forget to turn off the alarm again?" Kion asked, knowing that normally Jasiri would wake up earlier to go work in her convenience store.

"I might have" the hyena answered groggily, keeping her eyes closed while she talked.

"Well, no sense in trying to fall back asleep, we're already up for the day" Kion sat up in bed, his movement prompting Jasiri to open her eyes and adjust her positioning so she could still have her arms wrapped around Kion.

"Well, at least I'll be able to sleep like a cub after Wednesday." Kion commented, running his paw through Jasiri's mane.

The hyena smiled as she was pet, before remembering that Kion was talking about the big Ceartais op that he had told her about. Or more so, that she had used her charm to get out of him. The hyena worried for Kion, like any animal would worry for their mate. "I know this might sound cheesy" Jasiri said cautiously, finally opening her eyes "but... just please get home in one piece"

"Hey, don't worry, I'm bulletproof. I can toss light vehicles and shrug off hails of bullets" Kion tried to assure.

"I know, I know." Jasiri accepted before adding "But I can't help worrying. I mean without you I'd have no one except Madoa and Alice."

"Ok, I will admit that I worry for you as well. With all The Drowned attacks in the city, taking mammals left and right" Kion showed his fears, he always felt like he could be honest with Jasiri.

"Well if anything happens to me..." the hyena stared flirtatiously into Kion's eyes. "I have you to come and get me" The couple shared a long and passionate kiss, something that was normal for them to do, even this early in the morning.

"I love you" Kion said, once they broke the kiss.

"I love you too" Jasiri grinned

The pair laid there a moment longer, savouring each other's touch, before Jasiri spoke "Well, I guess we better get our day started. I'm going to take a shower" before climbing out of bed.

"Oh, can I join you? Maybe save some water?" Kion was still bad at flirting but Jasiri loved this dorky side to her boyfriend.

"Sure thing Kitten, get us some towels would you?" Jasiri replied with a wink.

A minute later, Jasiri had started the shower and the couple were getting undressed while chatting "Oh I forgot to tell you I finally met Alice's girlfriend yesterday." Jasiri gossiped.

"Ah, so you're 'show up unannounced' plan worked?" Kion asked coyly, removing his t shirt.

"Yes it did and oh my gosh, Andi is gorgeous." Jasiri gushed, taking off her nightwear.

"She's a vixen right? What does she look like?" Kion asked innocently.

"Well she's a red fox, athletic body, very fashionable and she has these beautiful amber eyes." Jasiri listed, before stripping out of her underwear and stepping into the shower.

Kion stood quietly for a second as he pondered what Jasiri had pointed out about Alice's girlfriend _A fashionista red vixen with amber eyes, that sounds like Luna…Ha haha, no way, Luna's not gay…wait Luna just split from Aleks, he dumped her because she cheated on him, did…did Luna cheat on Aleks with Alice!?_ Kion's mind swirled as he began to connect the dots _Don't be ridiculous Kion, Alice's girlfriend is called Andi…Andi? Andraste?_

"Hey Kitten, you getting in here or what?" Jasiri asked with playful impatience.

"Uh, yeah." Kion responded, snapping out of his haze. As he got into the shower the theory of Luna and Alice together gnawed at him even though he knew it was rude to speculate about someone's sexuality.

000

"So this is what heaven looks like." Olivia said in a dreamy voice. The engineer was sat at a table in Gusteau's restaurant, Blake had invited Olivia to his family's restaurant so she could taste test and review the new desert options for the restaurant prepared by Remy.

"Blake tells me you are very fond of everything sweet mademoiselle, so I thought there could be no one better than you to try my new creations." Remy smiled, motioning to the twenty or so deserts on the table "Of course I don't expect you to eat them all, just a quick taste and a mark out of five will suffice."

"Oh you seriously don't know Olivia, this girl is like a black hole when it comes to sweets." Blake chuckled, looking down at his girlfriend who was salivating as she stared at the confections.

"Surely not, the mademoiselle is slim." Remy laughed off "Anyway I best get back to the kitchen, I can't wait to hear what you think."

As Remy walked away Olivia could no longer wait and grabbed an apricot and almond tart in front of her and took a huge bite out of it, not even bothering to use a fork "Oh sweet jesus." Olivia exclaimed with a full mouth, the flavours exploding on her taste buds.

"So your score?" Blake queried with a knowing smile, holding a notepad.

"Five, easy." Olivia answered, scoffing down the treat "You know I've missed this."

"Missed what?" Blake asked, jotting down Oliva's score.

"This going to sound dumb but I've missed you a lot of the last week, it feels like we've barely seen one another." Olivia admitted, continuing to feast on the tart.

The broad shouldered rat's expression softened "I know but works been crazy for the both of us, I promise we'll spend more time together this week."

"Well you've made a good start with these." Olivia smiled, taking hold of the next plate containing a slice of Gâteau Basque. But before Olivia took a bite she noticed that Blake was stroking the scar on his cheek, something he usually did when he was jittery "Hey is everything ok?"

"Hmm?" Blake sounded, his paw still on his cheek.

"You seem bothered by something." Olivia called out, taking a bite of her cake.

"It's just something dumb, don't worry about it." Blake lied.

"…Ok." Olivia replied, unconvinced. She knew there was something but she didn't want to push him into talking about if he really didn't want to.

Blake could read her worried eyes and added "Honestly, I'm fine, all I want to think about is you right now." Crouching down and licking some powdered sugar off Olivia's lips "So what do you score that kiss?"

"I dunno', I may need another to be sure." Olivia played along, kissing her beau once more and hoping that Blake wasn't keeping something big from her.

000

"What are you doing?" Robyn giggled.

"Just let me do this." Hannah smiled, the striped hybrid was running her fingers across her girlfriend's paw pads "You know I love your paw pads."

"And here was me thinking you fell for me because I'm just plain awesome." Robyn jested.

"Meh, you're a bonus, I'm just here for your paw pads." Hannah grinned knowingly.

The young couple were in the gym area of the bunker, the two had just finished a ninety minute training session and were flirting on the bench beside the weight machines. "Hey you two, stop being so cute, some of us are trying to work out." Olivia sassed, the mouse was on a tiny rodent sized rowing machine which was perched on the control panel of the treadmill Luna was currently running on.

"Yeah you guys are like a couple out of a Disney movie." Luna commented in between breaths, running steadily.

"Well she is my princess." Hannah smirked.

"C'mon babe, let's leave these grouches to gossip." Robyn suggested, taking Hannah by the paw and leading her to a more secluded area of the bunker.

"Kids." Luna said, shaking her head as she continued to run on the treadmill.

"Well now that they're gone I wanted to talk to you about something." Olivia opened as she stopped rowing.

"Oh?" Luna signalled.

"Yeah it's about what Nightfall said at the military hospital…" Olivia said, sounding awkward.

"Ugh, really?" Luna griped, the vixen couldn't believe her rotten luck, first her mom and now her best friend pestering her about her love life.

"Come on Luna, we've been best friends since Kindergarten, you can talk to me." Olivia willed.

Luna turned off the machine and as it came to a slow stop she spoke "Look it's no big deal, I'm sleeping with someone new."

"Yeah but if it's the mammal you cheated on Aleks with, that must mean something, right? I mean he has to be important to you." Olivia pointed out, taking a sip from her water bottle.

Out of the corner of Luna's eye she could she a hallucination of Andraste laughing " _He! Ha, that's a good one."_

"Why are you so interested about this?" Luna asked in a defensive manner.

"Because you're never secretive when it comes to romance, you love to talk about to me about it, so why are you keeping this so close to your chest?" Olivia asked back.

" _Because Olivia, I've been keeping a doe bunny close to my chest."_ Andraste taunted Luna mentally.

"Because this is different, I cheated on Aleks because of this mammal and…I don't know, I don't think I have the right to be happy when I caused him so much pain." Luna tried to convey her feelings.

"Luna you've got to stop beating yourself up over cheating on Aleks. Besides he seems fine with that pretty little bat." Olivia commented "And I don't it's really fair on this new guy if your holding yourself back, is it? I mean does this mammal even matter to you?"

"Of course she matters to me." Luna replied honestly before realising what she said.

"She?" Olivia mused out loud.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." Luna sounded, her head frazzled with panic.

"Luna, are you gay?" Olivia asked carefully.

"I…I don't know." Luna spoke truthfully, her shoulders slumping and tears beginning to form in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's ok." Olivia comforted, running up Luna's arm and settling on her shoulder "Luna it's ok to talk about these things, I mean I grew up with gay dads, I'm like one of the most liberal minded mammals in Zootopia."

"It's just hard." Luna sniffed, getting off the treadmill and resting on the bench.

"But why? You know no one would react badly if you came out." Olivia tried to persuade.

"But that's the thing, I've never felt this way about a girl, I've always been into guys and then she comes along and boom! Suddenly I have no idea about my sexuality." Luna unloaded.

"Well you don't have to be sure of your sexuality, if you don't want to be labelled that's fine." Olivia encouraged.

"…It's not just the sexuality thing, we both know that our relationship had expiration date, she travels a lot for work and could move from Zootopia at a moment's notice, so we agreed that we would enjoy while it lasts, but…" Luna explained with a aching heart.

"But?" Olivia pressed.

"I think I'm in love with her." Luna confessed.

"You love her?" Olivia quietly gasped.

Luna nodded before sobbing "I know it's too soon and I know I hurt Aleks to be with her but I can't help it; I'm in love with her."

"Luna…" Olivia sympathised, hugging onto her best friend's cheek. Little did the two best friends that their conversation had been overheard by a certain Lion, he was just outside the doorway to the gym and now more than ever wanted to make sure his friend got her fairy tale ending unaware that he was sending the entire team towards disaster.

000

Ronin barely registered the cold snap in the air as she entered the Big manor, the temperature was kept low to accommodate the arctic shrew family that lived there as well as the multiple polar bear heavies that guarded the estate. Ronin had naturally entered through the back door and was guided to FruFru's office by a small but dangerous looking fennec who introduced himself as Finnick. Ronin studied the desert fox as he guided her through the manor, she could tell he had a gun in his blazer and seemed the type to carry a knife as well, his face was worn by years of a rough life but his eyes were alert and conscious of his surroundings, Ronin had decided that Finnick must've been a mammal who's been through hell and back with this family, a honourable guardian. When they entered the office FruFru was sitting on luxurious chair atop the mahogany desk "Right on time." FruFru noted, extending her paw so it could be kissed out of respect.

Ronin was no stranger to underworld etiquette, she pulled down her mask, carefully kissed FruFru's paw before putting her mask back in place "A pleasure to meet you, Madame Big." She said politely.

"I hope you don't mind if Finnick stays while we chat, you can't be too careful these days." FruFru stated.

"I'd never dream of telling you what do in your own home Madame." Ronin replied respectively.

"Your manners proceed you, I hope your skills with that sword of yours aren't false either." FruFru commented.

"Pardon my bluntness, but why would a respectable and legitimate buisnessmammal like yourself have need of a hired sword?" Ronin asked the question that had been bugging her.

FruFru leant back in her chair "It's true, I have made all of my family's holdings legit but the Bigs still hold a lot of responsibility in Zootopia, my family has a duty to protect those who are most vulnerable…Sometimes Finnick and his men will go and persuade someone to stop their unsavoury activities, but I ain't letting them get caught for a murder that needs doing."

"So you get someone like me to do it? I understand." Ronin nodded.

"Finnick show her the picture." FruFru instructed, while the fennec brought the picture on his phone the shrew continued to talk "Now Bo told me you have a code of honour, that you only kill those who truly need to be wiped from the face of the earth."

"Here." Finnick spoke gruffly, passing the phone to Alice.

"His name is…" Fru Fru began.

"Itsuki Hamada." Alice cut in suddenly.

FruFru looked at Alice, her golden eyes were narrowed as they looked at the phone screen, her body was trembling, her paw holding the phone was shaking. On the screen was an overweight Serrow in a black tracksuit, wearing tacky gold chains and a lit cigarette between his lips. "You know this piece of shit?" FruFru asked, wondering how the two could've crossed paths.

"I know that he works for different yakuza clans, he's a smuggler dealing in everything, I know that he kidnaps little boys and girls and sells them into slavery." Ronin said with fire in her voice.

"Well he's in Zootopia and he's been kidnapping children, I need you to take care of him and get those kids back." FruFru ordered.

"It will be my pleasure." Ronin replied with absolute honesty. After all these years she finally found him, the fat Serrow who had abducted her, thrown her into a cage and led her to being found by her master. Alice Kirabito was finally going to kill the mammal that stole her childhood.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Luna loves Alice!? Kion Knows...kinda'? And Alice is going into revenge mode?! What did you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Team Ceartais tries to take down Rattigan, Aleks and Zoe grow closer and Alice hunts down the slave trader. Please review and C YA SOON!)


	42. Undying

(AN/ Hey Folks it's garouge/crewefox here with another chapter of SOC! Thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. And a massive thanks to the TAS Dev team who helped create this chapter and to my friend Ziegelzeig who created some awesome art for this chatper that you can check out devianart and tumblr. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter!)

 **Chapter 41- Undying**

Aleks Rojek was getting sick of being confided to his hospital room. It wasn't that his room in the military hospital was particularly bad, it was the fact that he was left alone with his thoughts. The silver fox was laying in his bed, connected to a chest drain, that was still gathering excess blood from inside his chest. He didn't mind the pain, he saw it as a mild punishment for his failures. Ever since Aleks had awoken from surgery his guilt had consumed most of his thoughts; he kept thinking about all the cops he had watched die on that awful night in Tundra Town; the pig who died from a grenade blast, the ewe who was murdered with a hail of bullets and the wolf who's blood stained Aleks' face. His brothers and sisters in blue had perished yet he was still here, he was still breathing even after he had taken a bullet for the Mage. Zoe had told him the Mage was feeling guilty himself for letting Aleks get hurt, the polish fox thought this was foolish; even if the Mage was a hero, he was still a kid and he'd never let a kid die needlessly on his watch. Zoe had been his only source of happiness in the hospital, she'd visit every day and somehow always managed to make the depressed fox smile. The naturally flirtatious flying fox would tease and smoulder at Aleks but nothing more, she seemed to be respecting Aleks' wishes when it came to them having sex as a one-time thing, but now Aleks was starting to have second thoughts about his initial apprehension.

It had only been a few weeks since his break up with Luna, the emotional wounds from that were still fresh and yet Zoe was bringing light back into his life. The beautiful bat was cute, funny and caring, unusual traits for an elite soldier, but nothing about Zoe Nightfall was usual and that's what attracted Aleks to her. The silver fox had always gone for the 'Girl next door' type when it came to vixens (Even if Luna didn't end up being 'The girl next door') but Zoe was nothing like that, this bat was a badass with wit and wisdom, a girl who always looked on the bright side despite her dangerous occupation.

Aleks had been tempted over the last few days to address the status of whatever it was between himself and Zoe, he wanted to saythat he was wrong for dismissing a possible relationship, that he really liked her and wanted to see where it goes. But doubt always stopped him saying anything; he was frightened she would say no, that a relationship couldn't last between them because of their jobs and Aleks doubted himself; figuring he may be channelling his troubles into a rebound relationship and he didn't want to hurt Zoe that way. Aleks was tired of dwelling on this and was about to turn on the TV to distract himself when without knocking or warning Zoe came flying into the room "Hey foxy!" she beamed.

"Z-Zoe." Aleks gasped, caught unawares by the bat flapping around his head.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what?" Zoe asked thrice in an excited voice.

"What?" Aleks asked, noticing how happy the bat looked.

"You're getting out of here tomorrow!" Zoe revealed, landing on the bed "Ray just got word from the doctors, they're going to remove your chest drain later and discharge you in the morning."

Aleks leaned back and let out a happy sigh "Finally."

"Ray's pushing for you to have some time off to recover, so it's time t-" Zoe began.

"Whoa, hold up. Time off?" Aleks cut in.

"Well yeah, it's going to take some time before you're fighting fit." Zoe clarified.

"But the mission..." Aleks started to protest.

"…will continue, you can come back when you're fully recovered." Zoe finished, taking note of the dejected expression on the fox's face.

"I thought…never mind." Aleks dismissed his own grievance.

Zoe fixed her glasses before querying "You doing ok, foxy?"

"It's nothing." Aleks fibbed unconvincingly.

Zoe raised an eyebrow and pressed "You sure? Because you look like a kid who just figured out Santa ain't real."

"…I want to get back out there Zoe, I don't want to waste their sacrifices." Aleks answered in a uncharacteristic vulnerable tone.

Zoe knew what he was getting at, she was soldier and could spot survivor's guilt a mile off, she had been there herself in her early days with Camelot. The flying fox climbed up Aleks' chest so she could be face to face with him when she said this "You think those cops want to look down and see your ass in the firing line again?"

"That's not, I mean…" Aleks fumbled his words, feeling caught out.

"Listen to me; you couldn't have stopped those The Drowned killing those cops, hell you nearly died too, I know you feel like you've got to prove yourself but if you go back out there now you'll get killed and maybe your squad mates to." Zoe laid down the tough love.

"I…" Aleks started but he knew his argument was pointless, she was right; he was a liability right now.

"I'm only saying it because I care about you." Zoe added a bright note.

Aleks avoided eye contact with the soldier before mumbling "I'm going to miss this."

"Miss what?" Zoe asked with curiosity.

"Seeing you every day, that's been the only good thing about being in hospital." Aleks confessed.

"My, my, if I didn't know any better I'd say you like me Officer Rojek." Zoe grinned playfully.

"I think I do." Aleks said, his bravery taking hold.

"Huh?" Zoe sounded, surprised by the reply.

"I like you Zoe and not just as a friend or someone I slept with, I like you in the real way." Aleks struggled to explain.

Zoe had a rare expression of shyness on her face before asking way too quickly "But I thought it was just a one night stand, right?"

"That's what I thought too but," Aleks spoke, putting a paw around her petit but athletic frame "I want to see where this goes because I think you like me too."

Zoe wasn't one for mushy stuff but this handsome vulpine was melting her heart right now, she didn't want to say a word, instead she just leaned in and kissed her fox.

000

Alice had been awake most of the night, she had been rifling through all her underworld contacts to try and get info on her new mark; Itsuki Hamada. The annoying thing was that no one was talking, Alice was currently the most feared hitmammal in the city due to her known protection contract on Team Ceartais, whenever she asked anyone they would run in fear or deny knowing anything. FruFru Big had not giving her much info, only that were 31 children gone missing in the last two months and they were all from wave towns across the city. These were basically refugee camps for mammals left homeless by the wave, so it would be easy for Hamada to target a child on their own and that made Alice's blood boil. In her desperation she asked the landlady of the Burst Pipe; Bo to ask around, when the ewe heard what the target was responsible for she had no qualms about digging into the sick bastard.

All Alice could do now was wait, usually she was a very patient mammal but now Hamada was in her grasp she couldn't sit still. She had cleaned her guns, sharpened her katana and made a fresh batch of paralyzer needles but all of that took no time at all for the skilled swordswoman. A reprieve from her impatience came when Jasiri texted her, asking if she wanted to go out for brunch and a bit of shopping. Alice knew it would be at least the evening until Bo got back to her so she figured spending time with her friend would be a welcome distraction. Alice made her way upstairs to Jasiri and Kion's apartment and knocked the door, a few seconds later the door opened and there stood Kion wearing an odd kind of smile on face "Alice, it's been ages." The Lion greeted, stepping aside so the bunny could enter.

"I just saw you the other day." Alice gave a small laugh, walking into the apartment.

"R-right, I just mean it's felt like ages." Kion corrected in a skittish manner "Jasiri's just getting dressed."

"I'm surprised you're not at school today." Alice noticed.

"Well the Wave kind of messed up the whole school vacation schedule so right now we're on our entitled break." Kion explained, walking over to the kitchen "I was just about to have some coffee if you want some."

"No thank you, I've drank way too much this morning." Alice replied, following Kion into the kitchen before hopping up on the counter so she could chat with Kion at a better eye level "So what's your plans for today?"

"I'm meeting up with some friends later." Kion answered vaguely as not to allude to Ceartais. The lion had his back turned to Alice while pouring his coffee from the pot resting on the side, he was psyching himself up mentally before asking out of the blue "How's Andi doing?"

"Um, good, we spoke this morning on the phone, she's got a busy day planned to." Alice answered.

"So, uh, how did you two meet?" Kion quizzed, sounding awkward. As he turned around Alice took note of the tense look in his brown eyes.

"At a sky tram station in the rainforest district, we bumped into each other and just got talking." Alice told a half truth.

"That's actually pretty cute." Kion commented "Sort of a love at first sight thing."

"I wouldn't say that." Alice said, thinking back to her and Luna's violent first meeting "But there was a definitely a spark between us."

"That could be love." Kion insisted, his claws extending and retracting with jitters.

"That's nice of you to say but me and Andi have only been dating a couple of weeks, love takes time to blossom, it's not like the fairy tales." Alice corrected.

"All love is different, sometimes it's a slow burn other times it's like a fuse on a firework." Kion described, cursing himself mentally for the terrible analogy.

Alice scrunched her little pink nose with puzzlement before asking "Are you alright Kion? It's like you've got love on the brain."

"Uh, well, I just like to see love blossom." Kion laughed awkwardly "Young love, old love, lesbian love…"

" _Excuse moi?"_ Alice reacted, growing more confused.

"Wait that sounded creepy, uh what I meant to say is that all love is great." Kion babbled before laughing nervously.

Suddenly Jasiri sauntered into the kitchen and asked "What are you guy's talking about?"

"Love, I think." Alice answered in an unsure voice.

"What?" Jasiri chuckled.

"It's just me being dumb," Kion brushed off "you two should head to brunch or you'll miss your reservation."

Jasiri looked at the time on her phone and said "Ah crap, we best head there girl or they'll give away our table."

"Ok, um, see you later Kion." Alice bid farewell, jumping down from the counter and heading for the front door, happy to free of the strange conversation.

"Love you kitten, bye." Jasiri said sweetly, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek before followingher friend.

As he heard the front door shut Kion felt a wave of cringe wash over him, that was the most uncomfortable conversation he had in a long time but he knew he had to pursue this; he wasn't going to out Luna but he wanted to know if Alice felt the same love as Luna felt for her, so that one of his oldest friends wouldn't get hurt down the road. Kion wanted Luna and Alice to be happy too and if they would both say the three magic words to each other it was a step in the right direction.

000

"Oh my god Dad, will you stop worrying so much?" Luna whined.

"I'm just thinking you could use a little more protection, baby girl." Nick tried to persuade, holding up a bullet proof vest. Luna had come to collect Robyn to take her to the bunker for a mission briefing and of course Nick and Judy were worried about their girls going against Rattigan's men.

"I've been wearing the same uniform year, wearing that bulky thing would just slow me down." Luna countered, she was leaning on kitchen table.

"Well it's not like you can blame us for worrying, you don't regenerate like Robyn." Judy pointed out.

"Still hurts like hell." Robyn mumbled, unplugging her phone from the charging point in the kitchen.

"For the last time, I'm not wearing that vest." Luna put her foot down before fishing out a cheap burner phone and passing it to Judy "The only thing I want you to worry about is that phone, as soon as Nana texts you the details get your cops mobilized so you can seize the drugs and arrest Rattigan's goons."

"This is going to be fun." Robyn grinned.

"Fun? Yeah right, I'm probably going to have a heart attack by the end of the night." Nick grimaced.

"Oh chill, will ya'? We're professional bad asses, we can handle it." Robyn tried to assure.

"Right, we best going, Olivia wants us at the Bunker ASAP." Luna said, glancing at a message on her phone.

"You're not going without one these." Judy said, approaching her girls and taking them both in a hug before Nick joined in.

After about ten seconds Robyn spoke up "Um, guys we've gotta' go."

"Just one more minute." Nick pleaded, hugging his family a little tighter.

Eventually Nick and Judy let their daughters go and the sisters made their way to the bunker, Luna's Bugatti descended the spiral driveway into the main foyer of the bunker to see the rest of the team assembled but strangely Kion was holding Kodi back. The Wilde sisters got out of the car to hear Kodi hollering "There has to be another way!"

"Kodi, it has to be this way." Olivia said firmly, the mouse was standing on Hannah's shoulder.

"I'm really sorry." Robin senior added, holding two cans of spray paint and walking towards the parked Bella.

"What's going on?" Robyn asked.

"Kodi's having a temper tantrum over Bella." Hannah summed up with a smirk.

"They're going to tarnish my precious baby!" Kodi protested "Hood don't you dare lay a finger on her."

"And why is Bella getting a paint job?" Luna asked, looking towards her grandmother for answers.

"It's to disguise her, we're going to make Bella look like some rusty old wreck so we can park it close to the drug drop off without raising suspicion." Marian explained.

"They're going to make her rusty and scratch her and crack her windows!" Kodi whined.

"C'mon buddy, it's not like it's forever." Kion eased, still holding onto the emotional wolf.

"Yeah, tomorrow I'm going to give her a brand new paint job and fix all the scratches and cracks." Robin sr. promised.

"…Fine." Kodi pouted, finally stopping struggling against Kion's grip.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Robyn moved the conversation forward.

"We're going to lay in wait until the air drop is complete then while they're loading the drugs onto the trucks we disable the vehicles before rounding up Rattigan's hired guns." Olivia detailed.

"And what's the plan b? Just in case they get away?" Luna queried, wanting to be prepared for any eventuality.

"We split into teams of two; Kion and Robyn, Kodi and Hannah, Luna and me and follow the trucks. Kion can run pretty fast in his elixir form so chasing them won't be hard, Kodi will be driving Bella and Luna can ride on the back on my mech." Olivia cleared up.

"Oo-de-lally." Robyn smiled, getting hyped for the mission.

000

The last time Scarlet had been in this parking lot was to watch a soccer match between Zootopia Athletic and LA Galaxy. It was chock full of fans from both sides heading into the stadium to enjoy the game. But there was no fans here, no tailgate cook outs, all that was left were the wrecked and rusted husks of cars left in the wake of The Wave. Scarlet could hear the ocean from inside the transformed Bella, the sound of more gentle waves made the red furred hybrid uneasy as memories of that horrible night resurfaced in her mind. She looked at her watch, 2.57 am, it was only three minutes until the air drop and there were no sign of Rattigan's trucks. Robyn looked at her teammates around her, Mage was looking agitated at all the cracks, scratches and rust coloured paint blotches covering his precious Bella. Kion (Not in Roar form yet) was snoozing in the back seat while Bullet was barely visible in the cargo bed of the truck, she was prone and covered by trash bags, armed with her sniper rifle which were loaded with actual bullets to shoot out the tires of the trucks."Yo, Spitfire, any sign of them yet?" Robyn asked through her comm, Spitfire and Andraste were atop a nearby crane, keeping an eye out for any activity.

" **Nothing yet, Scarlet, just sit tight."** Spitfire's voice crackled over the radio.

" **Wait, I can see something coming from the north, it's a convoy."** Andraste spoke up.

" **It's them, Bullet get ready to fire on my mark."** Spitfire instructed.

"Roger." Bullet replied.

Scarlet shook Kion awake "It's show time." She whispered.

Kion rubbed his eyes and yawned "Took them long enough."

"This better be worth it, my poor baby's been put through hell." Mage groused.

"It'll be worth it if we can keep those drugs off the street." Kion added.

Soon enough the convoy came into view, there three huge trucks along with an escort SUV each, mammals started pouring out of the vehicles, some of them were carrying sub machine guns while others opted for pistols. "I count 31 of em'." Scarlet relayed.

"That's a lot of guns." Kion said, sounding a tad scared.

"We can handle it." Mage said confidently.

Suddenly the sound of aeroplane was carried across the air, Scarlet looked up to see a low flying cargo plane in the dark skies above. "Right on time." She smiled as the cargo doors opened and three massive crates were slid out of the plane and began to parachute down.

" **Andraste to Maid, contact Chief Wilde now."** Andraste instructed, keeping it to professional names just in case the communications were intercepted.

" **On it."** The Maid replied over the comm link.

" **Bullet as soon as those crates hit the ground I want you to hit as many tyres as possible."** Spitfire ordered.

"Ok." Hannah took a deep breath, sensing the density and shape of the tyres around 400 metres away.

There was complete radio silence for those ten seconds as the crates slowly fell to earth and just as the first crate touched down Spitfire signalled " **OO-DE-LALLY!"**

Bullet pulled the trigger of the large calibre sniper rifle and as the bang echoed around the parking lot, the front left tyre of the first truck burst before the crooks had the time to react Bullet fired another shot which found it's mark perfectly. As the gangsters tried to make sense of where the shots were coming from Spitfire and Andraste swooped down and started taking out Rattigan's gunmen while Bullet continued to take out the vehicles' tyres. "Mage drive towards the fight, I can shoot on the move!" Bullet barked with urgency, standing up in the cargo bed and continuing to fire the sniper rifle.

"You got it!" Mage grinned over the loud gunfire, turning the ignition before speeding towards the fight.

As Bella thundered towards the fight Kion saw his opportunity and leapt out the passenger door transforming into Roar as he did so, the titan keeping pace with the speeding pickup truck as bullets rained down on them from the gangsters.

"It's a set up!" Fidget, the small scruffy bat yelled at the top of his lungs. The bat was about to fly off when he swatted by Andraste's bow, the small mammal hit the side of an SUV before falling to floor in an unconscious lump.

Mage stopped Bella and Scarlet burst out of the door while howling "Playtime, assholes!", the red clad heroine leaping at a jaguar and delivering a perfect kick to the jawas she landed she grabbed her telescopic baton off her belt and extended it, she then charged at an anteater who was firing shots at her and brought the baton down and breaking the bones of it's very long face. Scarlet didn't let the pain of three bullets in her abdomen faze her and moved onto her next opponent.

Bullet was pinned by gunfire in the cargo bed of Bella and shouted to Roar "I need a hand here!"

"Hang on, I got an idea!" Roar replied, running to shield Bullet from the shots before inhaling deeply and letting out a powerful and deafening roar that knocked five six gunmen off their feet. "I can't believe that worked." Roar smiled with disbelief.

"Believe it big guy!" Mage cheered, getting out of Bella and throwing a quintet of tazer cards at the floored enemies.

Bullet took the opportunity and took out the remaining vehicles' tyres before declaring loudly "They're not going anywhere!" The gunslinger flipped out of the cargo bed and took hold of her twin pistols, taking out two gangsters as she spun through the air.

Spitfire was aiming her tranq launchers at a few of Rattigan's enforcers when she was gored and slammed into the ground by a bison, the huge mammal then produced a grenade with the intent of throwing it at the downed mech before he could pull the pin he was shot in the back of his thick skinned neck by a tranq arrow. Andraste then crouched in front of Spitfire and asked in a concerned voice "You ok?"

"Yeah, I owe you one." Spitfire replied, getting back to her feet and re-joining the fight.

"Meh, actually you owe me seven times over now." Andraste joked, firing another arrow at a fiend.

Scarlet looked around, over half of the gangsters were already knocked out with the remainder fighting on in vain while others tried to flee…also in vain, the team just had to keep up this tempo and the fight would be won. Scarlet sped towards a trio of gangsters trying to run for it, she jumped at the closest one, a racoon, scooped him up and threw him at the fleeing beaver just ahead knocking them to the ground. The last gangster, a ferret, stopped in her tracks, dropped her gun and raised her paws "I give up!" she squeaked.

Scarlet slowed down and smarmed "Wise choice, get on your knees and put your hands behind your head." Reaching to grab a cable tie from a pouch on her belt.

But just as Scarlet went to restrain the ferret a rustle could be heard to her left, the beaver who she believed was knocked out spat "Hey Bitch!"

Scarlet barley had chance to turn around, she saw the handgun in the beaver's paw and then there was a loud bang and a flash of light, the gunshot hit Scarlet directly in her forehead. It fired straight through the bone and the brain before exiting through the back of her head. Scarlet fell to concrete in an instant, her navy blue eyes wide open with terror, her chest wasn't moving and her heart had stopped beating. Scarlet was dead.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Bullet screamed, sensing her love falling to the floor and more chillingly her still heart.

"SCARLET!" Mage shouted, racing towards his best friend.

"Robbie…" Andraste whispered, her blood running cold as she laid eyes on her lifeless sister "No she can't…" she uttered while noticing a Beaver with a gun run towards the abandoned stadium.

" **He killed her! He killed Robbie!"** Andraste's dark side howled with grief and anger inside the archer's head.

"She's not dead, she can't be." Andraste uttered with tears in her amber eyes.

" **We can't let that bastard live! He killed our sister!"** The Darkness bellowed in the vixen's mind " **Let me do it, Luna. Let me kill him!"**

Luna didn't think about it, grief overpowered her and in a heartbeat she was no longer in control, Andraste had taken full control. Andraste let out a pained vixen cry before chasing after the beaver.

"Andraste!" Spitfire shouted, giving chase.

Bullet, Roar and Mage had reached Scarlet's body. Bullet didn't hesitate taking her lifeless love in her arms and wailing "Princess!" her body trembling and uncaring that she was getting soaked in her slain girlfriend's blood. The ferret gangster was stood a few feet away, frozen with the shock of what she just witnessed. Bullet sobbed and cradled Scarlet close, tears cascading from the bottom of her domino mask as she could only imagine the dead eyes of her true love. It hurt, it actually hurt Bullet to experience this, her chest felt like an anvil was crushing it, her paw traced Scarlet's still warm cheek before planting a kiss on the fallen heroine's hauntingly still lips.

"Don't do this squirt, you can't die." Roar muttered, pulling at his mane with tears filling his eyes.

"This can't…this can't be happening." Mage wept before throwing his head back and letting a grief filled howl escape his lips.

BA-DUM

A sound reached Bullet's ears, an impossible sound.

BA-DUM

"Princess?" Bullet sniffed, praying that she wasn't imaging the sound of a heartbeat.

BA-DUM

"H-her heart, I can hear it!" Bullet cried.

Mage stopped his howling and sniffed "Bullet, she's gone."

BA-DUM

"I swear I can hear it!" Bullet exclaimed.

"Bullet, I'm s-" Roar began to reason.

All of a sudden Scarlet's lifeless body began to convulse, like she was fitting, Bullet could feel the temperature rising like a fever in her love's body and her navy eyes began to blink rapidly with speed "Oh my god…" Bullet gasped.

"She's alive!?" Kion yelled with shock.

Then with no warning Scarlet scrambled from Bullet's embrace before landing on her feet, she had her back turned to her teammates and the flabbergasted ferret. Scarlet swatted at her own face, tearing off the scarf that covered the lower half of her face before letting it fall to the floor.

"Ro-Scarlet?" Bullet had to correct herself, getting the feeling that something wasn't right.

Scarlet then slowly turned around to face the others, the bullet wound was still at the centre of her forehead, her eyes narrowed and full of rage, her mouth open displaying sharpened fangs dripping with drool and she let out a bone chilling growl.

"Squirt?" Roar asked in frightened voice.

Scarlet let out a vulpine like scream before leaping towards her friends with murderous rage; the Undying Scarlet had gone savage.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! What's happened to Scarlet?! Andraste has taken control of Luna again!? WHat did you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on Star of Ceartais; Alice wants to kill Hamada, Andraste wants to kill that beaver and Scarlet wants to kill anything in front of her...THERE WILL BE BLOOD! Please review and C YA SOON!)


	43. Fury, Feral and Fire

(AN/ Hey folks,it's Garouge/ Crewefox with another chapter of SOC! I want to thank everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter, it really gives me the drive to continue writing. But of course I couldn't do any of this without the TAS development team who help me put out chapters each week, beta, run the discord server, brainstorm ideas, create art and just being really awesome friends, so thanks for always being there. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 42- Fury, Feral and Fire**

"Ro-Scarlet?" Bullet had to correct herself, getting the feeling that something wasn't right.

Scarlet then slowly turned around to face the others, the bullet wound was still at the centre of her forehead, her eyes narrowed and full of rage, her mouth open displaying sharpened fangs dripping with drool and she let out a bone chilling growl.

"Squirt?" Roar asked in frightened voice.

Scarlet let out a vulpine like scream before leaping towards her friends with murderous rage; the Undying Scarlet had gone savage. The closest mammal to her was The Mage, in the blink of an eye he threw a flashbang card directly at Scarlet's face. The resulting flash of light disorientated the feral hybrid and she tumbled to the hard ground, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes all the while making beast like snarls.

"What's wrong with her!?" The terrified ferret mobster asked, cowering behind The Mage.

"I don't know…" Mage replied, getting out a tranq card and gently placing it on the ferret's head, causing her to fall unconscious "but it's better that you don't see this."

Roar was in a fighting stance, ready to defend himself and his team, but he wasn't sure if he had the heart to harm one of his oldest friends "Where the hell are Spitfire and Andraste!?"

"I think they went after the guy who shot Scarlet." Mage answered, wishing that Spitfire was here to take charge of the situation.

All of a sudden the team's earpieces crackled into life " **Maid to Ceartais, what's going on over there?! Scarlet's vitals flatlined for a second and now her readings are through the roof!"**

"Maid, Scarlet…I don't how to explain this but she's gone savage." Mage explained, looking at the creature his friend had become, trying to regain her senses.

" **WHAT!?"** Both Maid and The Hood screamed through the radio.

"She got a gunshot to the head and- Bullet stop!" Mage barked with panic, Bullet was slowly approaching her ferocious girlfriend.

"Princess, it's me, it's ok…we're not going to hurt you." Bullet soothed but her cracking voice revealed her heartbreak.

"Bullet don't get too close." Roar cautioned.

"She won't hurt me, I-I know she won't." Bullet tried to convince her friends and herself.

Scarlet looked like she could finally see again after the flashbang, her navy eyes fell on Bullet and looked at her with curiosity, the gunshot wound was still trickling blood as an odd squeaking/grunting sound came from Scarlet's mouth while Bullet edged closer towards her.

"Bullet, just start stepping back, I'm going to tranq her." Mage warned, pulling another tranq card from his jacket.

"Mage don't! You can't!" Bullet protested, raising a paw as if saying stop.

Scarlet looked to who Bullet had raised her paw to, her eyes narrowed once more as she looked at Mage, a low growl was now emanating from her and she was thumping her foot on the ground in a very lapin fashion. " **Guys, Scarlet's vitals are spiking again, what in God's name is going on over there!?"** Maid demanded with a stressed voice.

"She's just – OH SHIT!" Roar cursed as Scarlet bounded towards Mage while screeching like a banshee, Mage threw the tranq card but Scarlet read the attack and dodged it before closing the distance, grabbing the wolf and throwing him into the side of Bella. Mage gave a canine yelp of pain as he slammed into the side of the pickup truck, half a second later he opened his eyes to see an enraged Scarlet running at him with her fangs and claws ready to tear into the downed trickster. But just as Scarlet dived at Mage, with her sharp predator teeth heading for his throat, the ginger ball of rage was snatched up in a giant white paw.

"Easy there, Squirt!" Roar yelled, making sure not to grip too hard and hurt his friend.

But Scarlet wasn't listening, her jaws were still close to Mage and they were snapping viciously in vain, wanting to tear out his throat. Roar pulled her away and kept a firm grip on the squirming savage, the feral girl switched her attention to Roar and bit down with all her force on Roar's paw, only for some of her teeth to shatter against the lion's impregnable skin.

"Scarlet!?" Bullet gasped, the sound of Scarlet's teeth breaking made her stomach lurch.

"Oh god, Mage knock her out before she does anymore damage to herself." Roar ordered, it pained him to see Scarlet like this.

"Wait!" Bullet cut in "…I'll do it."

"You sure, stripes?" Mage breathed, wincing in pain as he got to his feet.

"It has to be me." Bullet spoke with tears resting behind her domino mask, she took hold of one her tranq pistols and aimed at her raging beloved who was still trying to bite down on Roar's paw despite her bloodied mouth of shattered teeth.

"I'm sorry Bullet, it's just so we can get her back to the bunker and figure out what's wrong with her." Roar offered some kind words, reading the torment on Bullet's face.

"I love you, Princess." Bullet wept, she aimed her pistol at Scarlet but then abruptly the crazed girl just stopped moving. Scarlet's body went limp and her head looked down causing Bullet to move her finger away from the trigger and question "Did she faint?"

"Oh fu-ck…" A familiar voice moaned.

"No way." Mage whispered, smiling despite his pain.

Scarlet raised her head, her eyes were squinting and the gunshot wound was closing up, she looked at Mage and Bullet before groaning "Why does my mouth hurt?" her voice was slightly slurred.

"Oh my gosh!" Bullet cried with joy, running over and wrapping her arms around Scarlet who was now being steadied by Kion's paw.

"Babe?" Scarlet asked in a hazy voice before tasting the blood in her mouth and query "Why is my mouth bleeding?"

Bullet ignored the question and kissed Scarlet on her cheek multiple times while sobbing between pecks "Don't you ever do that to me again!"

"W-What did I do?" Scarlet asked, now looking up at Mage and Roar who were both crying with happiness.

"Damn it, Squirt, don't scare us like that." Roar sniffed, the gentle giant pulling Mage and the two girls into a group hug.

"What's going on?" Scarlet asked, utterly confused by the situation.

Mage was in mid hug when he explained way too quickly "A beaver shot you in the head, you died, we freaked, then you bolted up and kinda' turned into a zombie, tried to kill me…so yeah, that's about it."

"….What?" Scarlet uttered with disbelief "I died?"

"Yes and you…you…" Bullet started but broke down and bawled into Scarlet's neck.

"Hey, hey, it's alright, I'm ok, I think." Scarlet comforted despite having a monster headache and her mouth was throbbing with pain as her broken teeth grew back. She observed the scene around them; all the gangsters were down, she could hear approaching police sirens but two figures were missing, making her ask "Wait a sec, where's Spitfire and Andraste?"

000

The first thing the dark side of Luna did when she took control was switch off her comm link, she didn't want to be distracted from her task; making the beaver's death as painful as possible. Andraste's target moved rather fast for a beaver, but like most of her targets they we're easy to track, the un-swept sands of Sahara Square that had covered the concrete footpath provided the perfect conditions to leave behind footprints. And the tracks led inside the semi destroyed soccer stadium "Why do they always run into places they can get trapped in?" Andraste asked herself, her resentment for the killer was clear in her voice. Andraste could hear the jet boosters of Spitfire's mech getting closer, she knew she'd have to be fast if she wanted her vengeance but no matter how fast the vixen was she knew she couldn't outrun Spitfire. As she followed the footprints, weaving through the rubble and trashed vehicles leading to the soccer stadium, an idea came alive in her mind; Andraste had spotted an overturned bus with its undercarriage exposed a couple of hundred metres to her left, she hastily retrieved two explosive arrows from her quiver before firing them in quick succession at the overturned bus causing it to be erupt in a mess of fire and metal that shook the ground. Andraste continued to run towards the stadium but glance back to see that Spitfire was now flying towards the fire, the archer smiled darkly, she had bought herself a couple of minutes.

Andraste entered through the shattered glass doors of the stadium and found herself in a pitch-black atrium, she could hear the patter of paws ahead of her; they were fast but fumbling, clearly someone who was panicking. Beavers could see fairly well in the dark but not as good as a fox, Andraste could clearly see the beaver through the murky darkness, she pulled out one of low voltage tazer arrows from her quiver; strong enough to bring a mammal that size to the ground but not knock him out. She steadied her aim and let the arrow fly, it struck the beaver in his butt cheek and he crashed to the floor with a wail. Andraste had no time to play with this bastard, she'd have to kill him quick before Spitfire showed up, she practically sprinted over to the beaver who was trying in vain to remove the arrow from his rear until he saw Andraste standing above him. "Damn," The Beaver grumbled "fine you got me, hand me over to the police."

"You murdered her." Andraste spoke coldly.

"What? The girl in red?" The Beaver scoffed "What do you expect when you're going against drug dealers?"

"You murdered her." Andraste repeated with more venom, unsheathing both of her daggers.

"Whoa, now!" The Beaver panted "You're with those other heroes, you guys don't kill, everyone knows that."

"You murdered her!" Andraste snarled, pointing both blades at the murderer.

"Y-You're crazy! Get away from me!" The Beaver hollered, crawling away from the vigilante "Someone, anyone, help!"

Andraste raised the daggers above her head, ready to plunge them into gangster's back then…PING! Both blades flew out of her paws and clattered to the floor with a flash of red light, Andraste looked to her right and saw the glowing red eyes of Spitfire before the archer could react the mech shot the beaver with a tranq dart while flying at Andraste and pinning her against the wall "What the hell did you just try and do!?" Spitfire yelled.

"Why did you stop me!?" Andraste screamed, trying to wriggle out of the mech's grip.

"You were going to kill him!" Spitfire blasted, turning off her voice modifier so she could speak to her best friend properly.

"It's what he deserved!" Andraste snapped with tears in her amber eyes.

"Luna, listen to me…" Spitfire lowered her voice, trying to calm her enraged friend.

"Don't call me that, I'm not that Mommy's girl!" Andraste spat with fire.

"Wait, what?" Spitfire reacted with confusion.

"You think Luna has the guts to do what's necessary? That weak bitch needs me for times like these." Andraste replied with a burning in her voice.

"You…you're the other part of her." Spitfire mumbled, remembering how Luna explained what led to her cheating on Aleks.

"Exactly, now let me go so I can kill that piece of shit over there." Andraste barked, still trying to break free of Spitfire's hold.

"I thought…" Andraste uttered, still trying to wrap her head around the situation. She needed to think fast, she needed to get Luna back before the cops showed up, luckily for her the answer was buzzing in her ear. With her spare mechanized hand she reached for Andraste's belt and switched the comm link receiver back on.

"What are you-" Andraste began but then she heard…

" **Scarlet to Andraste, where are you?"** The groggy and tired voice of a dead girl asked.

"R-Robbie?" Andraste spoke with a quivering lip, her face displaying a combination of relief and disbelief.

"She survived Andraste, now let Luna come back!" Spitfire demanded, letting go of the archer.

Andraste was silent for a moment, she bowed her head then "Where?" she mumbled, before looking at Spitfire with bewilderment "Spitfire, where are we?"

Spitfire listened to the tone of the vixen's voice, it was softer than before but she still asked "Luna, is that you?"

"…Oh god," Luna breathed, realising her situation "did you see her?"

"I saw her." Spitfire replied, putting a reassuring hand on Luna's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, she took over when I saw…Oh god Robbie." Luna sobbed, taking off her mask and wiping her eyes.

" **Andraste, where are you?"** Scarlet asked over the comms, sounding agitated.

"No…" Luna whispered, before speaking into her mic "Robyn?"

" **Ugh, Codenames only, remember?"** Scarlet reminded.

"You're ok? I-I saw you…" Luna cried, praying that this wasn't a dream.

" **Die. Yeah the guys told me, I guess we finally got our answer about if I can survive a headshot."** Scarlet replied with a nervous laugh.

"Stay right where you are, I'm coming to you!" Luna instructed through her tears before racing towards the exit, leaving Spitfire to carry the unconscious Beaver. As the mech lifted the large rodent with just one hand, she looked at her best friend running for the exit and pondered whether or not it was safe to have her on the team.

Thirty minutes later the crumbling stadium was swamped with cops, feds and journalists. Team Ceartais were behind the police line but were not bothered by the officers, Judy had informed them of the new city deputies just before they had set out. The cops looked at the heroes with a mix of wonder and fear, especially towards Roar. But none of the team took notice, they were all gathered around Scarlet, the red clad heroine had retrieved her torn scarf and re-masked her muzzle "Babe, I know you're a little shaken, but my arm's falling asleep." Scarlet mentioned to Bullet who was latched onto her girlfriend's arm.

"Sorry, but I'm not letting go." Bullet replied, not caring if she sounded clingy.

"…I'm just so glad you're ok." Andraste (With Luna in control) spoke, finally calmed down after twenty minutes of solid crying.

"I'm glad you're not trying to rip my throat out." Mage kidded but when a few of the team shot him a disapproving look he mumbled "Sorry."

"Can we all agree on one thing," Scarlet addressed "let's not tell my parents that I died."

"Agreed." Andraste nodded.

"Well the mission was a success, looks like your Dad's intel was on the money." Roar smiled at Spitfire.

"Yeah but it still doesn't explain why my Daddy wants Rattigan behind bars in the first place." Spitfire replied, her voice modifier had been switched back on.

"Excuse me?" A voice cut in. The team turned around to see Chief Judy Wilde approaching them, the seasoned cop was resisting the urge to leap towards her kits and hug them.

"Chief." Spitfire greeted with a curt nod.

"We're ready to issue a statement to the media, I'd like all of you to join me." Judy instructed.

"Really?" Scarlet queried with a raise of an eyebrow.

"We need Zootopia to know that Ceartais and law enforcement are working together now and what better introduction than a massive drug bust?" Judy convinced, beckoning the team over with a paw. The six heroes followed the rabbit to the police line where a crowd of journalists were waiting and already screaming for questions. Judy raised a paw to silence them, which they respected, when they were all silent she spoke in a loud and clear voice "Good morning, I'm here to issue an official police statement to which there shall be no questions; This morning with the incalculable help of Team Ceartais, the ZPD has seized a large shipment of drugs including Cocaine, Heroin, Fentanyl and Morrigan estimated to have a street value of half a billion dollars, 31 arrests have been made and no injuries were suffered on either side. The reason Team Ceartais came to the ZPD is because earlier this week these six brave heroes were made deputies of Zootopia in accordance with city laws." This caused a flurry of questions from the media crowd as they snapped countless pictures but Judy continued nevertheless "Team Ceartais have proven time and time again that they are heroes with good intentions for the city, and by working in conjunction with authorities we can finally rid Zootopia of the crime and terror that has plagued it in recent months!" It was official, the secret was out; Team Ceartais and the cops were working together. The Public knew. Rattigan knew. But most worryingly; The Drowned knew.

000

Ronin got the call just after 4 am; Bo had found out where Itsuki Hamada was operating from. According to a gun runner who used the Canal District's waterways to transport weapons the Serrow had purchased a large barge with cash and was apparently bribing the canal administrators to look the other way, the barge's name was 'The Fat Toad'.

Ronin had parked her motorcycle just outside the Canal District and travelled the rest of the way by rooftop and through the dense tree top canopy until she reached a secluded area of the canal docks where a seemingly normal large barge resided, it was a brownish green colour, worthy of the name 'The Fat Toad'. She scouted the area from her tree top perch, there was no guard patrols and no CCTV cameras in the area, probably by request of Hamada himself who wouldn't his want criminal dealings recorded. Ronin used her goggles and switched on the thermal imaging setting and was disappointed to find no one inside the barge but then she remembered that Hamada was a drunk and would often stumble back from a bar at dawn. Ronin turned off the thermal imaging and looked up the sky, a glow of orange was just starting to stain the inky black sky, the sun would be rising soon and Hamada would be coming back. All she had to do was lay in wait.

Ronin dropped from the tree and sleeked over to the barge, making sure to stay in the shadows, she took note of the digital lock on the side of the door leading inside the barge and ignored it, instead she moved onto the roof and was not surprised to find a small skylight open, small enough for a bunny to slip through. Ronin carefully lowered herself into the dark innards of the barge and found herself in what seemed to be Hamada's makeshift quarters; a unfolded futon was in the corner of the room, unwashed clothes were all over the floor, the trash bin was overflowing with beer cans and take out boxes and the room had an overpowering aroma of cigarettes and B.O. "What a slob." Ronin whispered to herself in her native tongue, before glancing at a tatty curtain that divided the squalid quarters. The bunny reached out and pulled back the curtain to find a site that triggered a torrent of rage and fear to well up inside her; cages, dozens of empty cages of all different sizes for different mammals surrounded by foam soundproofing on the inner shell of the barge so the screams and cries of the kidnapped children wouldn't be heard. Ronin walked over to one and put her paw on the cold iron bars of a cage, a very similar one she was bundled into with some other girls when she was only seven years old. She remembered Hamada putting child after child in other cages around her, she remembered scarring herself so she couldn't be sold and she remembered seeing the sick bastard every so often at the clan leader's compound. When Ronin was under the tutelage of her master, Oni, they would carry out hits for the Mokuzai yakuza clan as well as guard the various members of the clan during get togethers. At age 14 Ronin even had to endure guarding Hamada as he auctioned off his 'Stock' of trafficked mammals, she was glad she was wearing her mask back then to hide her hatred and heart break.

It's then when Ronin noticed something in one of the cage; a half chewed slice of bread. She knelt down, reached inside and touched, it was hard and stale…but hadn't a speck of mould on it. This bread was nibbled on in the last two days; there had been a kid in this cage not so long ago. Ronin quickly shot up and inspected the other cages, she found empty water bottles, discarded food wrappers and in one cage a toy triceratops with dried blood on it. Ronin picked up the plastic dinosaur and held it close to her chest, willing herself not to cry and focusing her mind on something else; the kidnapped children had been moved from this barge in the last 48 hours but she knew for a fact that the Zootopia port authority inspect every boat going in and out of the canal district so there was no way Hamada had transferred the kids onto another boat. They were probably led into a truck, but moving them across a long distance in a truck was a risky move leading Ronin to believe there was a good chance of the children still being in the city. "I can save them." She uttered to herself, hoping, praying that the kids were still alive.

Without warning the sound of the digital lock beeping brought Ronin out of her thoughts, she dived back into the shadows just before the door opened. In staggered Hamada, and he made her skin crawl just like back in Japan; he was wearing a sky blue tracksuit today with food stains all over it, a bottle of beer was clasped in his hoof as he stumbled around his quarters, obviously looking for something. The soused Serrow had a unlit cigarette in his mouth and was searching for a lighter amongst his messy room "W-where the hell is it?" He slurred in Japanese.

"Right here." A voice spoke and a lighter lit up beside him.

"What?" Hamada sounded, not having any time to register who was in the room with him before having strange smelling dust blown into his face and then darkness.

Itsuki Hamada woke up staring at the foam covered ceiling of the barge, he was still drunk and it took a moment to remember what happened. In a panic he tried to get up but instead found all four of his limbs stretched tied to the heaviest cages with rope, he was shirtless and looking in the shadows with terror for whoever had ensnared him. "Some mammals never change," A cold voice cooed in Japanese, Hamada could see the small glow of a cigarette in the dark "you're still the same sick bastard from years ago and I'm still the same monster I was back then." Ronin stepped out of the shadows with a ciggie between her lips.

"Kirabito!?" Hamada gasped, suddenly feeling a lot more sober.

"The name's Ronin these days." The bunny replied, walking over and staring down at the trapped smuggler.

The inebriated serow looked at the rabbit for a moment before chuckling nervously "So this how I die, killed by one of the children I kidnapped."

"At least you're not begging for your life." Ronin replied, taking a drag of the cigarette.

"We both know Oni taught you to never listen to your victim's pleas." Hamada responded, knowing there was no way out.

"That she did but she also taught me to use mercy as a tool, a reward for exchange of information. So guess what I want to know?" Ronin asked, kneeling by the kidnapper's face.

"You want to know where my stock is." Hamada answered before smirking "What's it worth to you?"

Ronin's eyes turned dark as her paw shot forward and with her thumb and forefinger she forced open Hamad's right eyelids before stubbing the lit cigarette onto his eyeball. "ARRRRGH!" Hamada roared and thrashed as his eyeball was burned.

"What it's worth is whether I kill you quickly or slowly, you bastard!" Ronin hissed over the smuggler's screams, Ronin dropped the cigarette then stood back up.

"You whore!" Hamada swore to which Ronin jumped and slammed both her flat feet on his crotch, rupturing his testicles.

The assassin jumped back off and simmered "Now I know you're aware of all my torture techniques, you've seen me use them before on your competitors, so why don't you make things easier on yourself and tell me where the children are? And remember; I can tell when mammals are lying to me!"

The winded and wounded Hamada writhed against his bonds before groaning "It's the…it's The Drowned."

Ronin froze at the mention of the terrorist group, she read Hamada's face and could see he wasn't deceiving her. The rabbit steadied her nerves before asking "Why would The Drowned want children?"

"You think they'd tell me? I was given the order to round up kids and they paid cash in full, $5k a brat!" Hamada spat, his burnt eyeball now bleeding and blistering.

"Where are The Drowned?" Ronin demanded.

"I don't know, that Cheetah that leads them came here with some of her cult and bundled them into a big white truck." Hamada told between pants of pain "That's all I know!"

"I believe you." Ronin spoke, realising her task had become a lot more difficult, she unsheathed her katana and said bitterly "Even though I want to make you suffer, I am a mammal of my word, you have earned your swift death."

"Yeah? Well I know you're going to join me in hell soon e-enough." Hamada breathed.

"I can handle Fuli." Ronin reacted with confidence.

"You bunnies really are dumb." Hamada laughed while wincing with pain "The Mokuzai clan are going to kill you."

"They haven't found me in seven years, I'm too smart for them." Ronin countered, spinning her katana in hand and letting Hamada say his last words.

"Were you smart enough to spot that webcam on my laptop?" Hamada smirked.

"Laptop?" Ronin sounded, her eyes darting to his quarters to find a newish looking laptop open on the table, she ran over and swiped at the mousepad. The screen lit up with a camera feed looking straight at her, her stomach dropped when she read the words 'Streaming now' in the corner.

"It's a live feed back to Japan, an insurance policy if anyone tries to screw my operations over but you walking in will but a smile on the Boss Orobishika's face." Hamada laughed.

" _Putain."_ Ronin quietly swore in French. It was over, it was all over, the Yakuza knew she was in Zootopia, she had to run and get out of the country before anyone she knew got hurt. But she knew she couldn't, not yet, she had to settle things with Luna and get the kids back from The Drowned. She could never live with herself if she left those kids to their fate, even if meant risking her life.

"Time's up Kirabito, it's time for you to join your master!" Hamada spat.

A series of images flickered through Ronin's mind; hanging out with Jasiri and Kion, chatting with Bo and being in Luna's arms. All those happy moments, everything that was good in her life was about to be lost. In a blink of an eye Ronin bolted towards Hamada and started slashing at him with rapid speed, his cries and her rage filled screams filled the barge as blood speckled the bunny's white fur and organs began to spill out of the torn apart serrow. After a minute of unrelenting swipes of her sword Ronin stopped and looked down at the mess of flesh and fur that was Itsuki Hamada before throwing her head back and screaming at the top of her lungs. Alice Kirabito's days of happiness were numbered.

000

The team had decided to chill out for the remainder of Wednesday, they had done their good deed for Zootopia and needed time to recuperate. Kion helped Jasiri out at the store, Olivia divided her time between Blake and analysing the data from Robyn's nanomachines, Luna had tried to meet up with Alice but the bunny said she was busy, Kodi spent most of the day fixing up Bella back to her former glory with the help of Robin sr. and Hannah had taken Robyn out on a date.

Thursday came along and team Ceartais decided to meet up for a debrief and find out what the hell had happened to Robyn during her 'Zombie' incident. Luna and Olivia were coming down the secret elevator from the Dawson Tech. building when Olivia brought up a difficult subject "What did I see on that mission Luna?" The Mouse was stood on her usual perch on Luna's shoulder.

"An isolated incident, that's what." Luna answered defensively "It won't happen again."

"You can't brush this off." Olivia insisted "Andraste nearly killed someone."

"Don't you think I know that?" Luna parried "Don't you think I've been worried sick about it?"

"So what? You want me to pretend that it never happened?" Olivia countered, sharply "We've only be deputized five minutes and she nearly brought the entire team down."

"…I know." Luna spoke, her amber eyes reflecting her pained emotions.

"Sorry." Olivia reacted, feeling sympathy for her friend "But I don't want to see you go down the same path as before, remember what you told the rookies? If you need to take a break; take a break."

"I can't quit now. The city still needs us." Luna replied in sorrowful voice.

"But your family needs you to, I need my best friend…and so does your mystery girl." Olivia comforted "We don't want to lose you."

There was a brief pause before Luna spoke "Maybe you're right, I'll think about it over the weekend."

"You're heading to Bunnyburrow tomorrow, right?" Olivia remembered.

"Yeah, for Robbie's birthday, it's going to be us and the Savages…but no nana and granddad." Luna sighed.

"Maybe being away from the city will put things in perspective for you, I don't want to pressure you, Luna, but you've got to do what's best for you." Olivia advised, at that moment the elevator stopped and the doors opened to the bunker.

"Can we keep this between us for now?" Luna asked, sounding reserved, stepping out of the elevator.

"Sure." Olivia gave a reassuring smile.

Up in the observation deck, while Marian was typing away at her workstation, Hannah and Robyn were relaxing on the tatty old sofa in the corner of the room waiting for the others to arrive. But in actual fact it was more like Robyn being restrained with a hug on the sofa, ever since Robyn's 'Death' Hannah had been sticking to her girlfriend like glue. The striped hybrid had always been one for snuggles and PDA but now she had turned it up to 11, and it was starting irritate Robyn. The ginger teen went to get up off the sofa but was struggling to wriggle free of her love's embrace "Babe,can you let go for a sec?" she asked, sounding irked.

Hannah released her but when Robyn rose from the sofa she asked in a needy voice "Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom, can't I do that in peace?" Robyn asked rhetorically, stomping out of the observation deck.

A dejected looking Hannah was left on the sofa, the girl was about to berate herself for being too clingy but someone else did it for her "You should ease up on the hugs, my dear." Marian spoke up, getting out of her chair and walking over to the lovesick girl.

"Ugh, I know, I'm acting pathetic." Hannah criticised herself.

"No you're acting like someone who saw their true love die in front of them, if that happened to my Robin I'd probably be the same as you." Marian empathised.

"It's just ever since the mission, I've been terrified, I honestly thought she was gone. I never felt so…it's hard to describe." Hannah explained, hugging onto her long fluffy tail.

"Robyn is fine, my dear, she beat death, I think she can handle everyday life without you being her bodyguard." Marian noted.

"I know it's irrational but I can't imagine what I'd do if she hadn't woke up." Hannah replied, close to tears.

Marian reacted by sitting down beside the girl and wrapping a comforting arm around her before saying "You really are like your namesake, your grandmother had so much love in her heart."

"…Marian do you remember what you said to me a while back? About y'know…marrying Robyn?" Hannah asked shyly.

"Yes?" Marian asked, sounding suspicious.

"Can I ask how you and Robin got engaged?" Hannah queried.

"Well it was kind of romantic, in our own little way." Marian said with a soft smile "We had just exposed one of the biggest motor companies in the UK of stealing from the pension fund, we had stolen all the conspirators cash and distributed it to the victims by hacking into the company's main computer. We were fighting our way through their guards to the getaway car, we were outnumbered, I thought we were going to die, so I told Robin about a little secret I was keeping from him."

"You were pregnant with Nick?" Hannah guessed.

"Exactly, it was the worst possible time to tell him but he just gave the most joyous laugh, punched a guard then took my paw and asked 'Marian my love, will you marry me?', I was so shocked I just kept wailing on the guards with my batons, it was only when we got in the getaway car I kissed him and replied 'Darling, I thought you'd never ask me.'."

"That's so sweet." Hannah admired, picturing the scene in her head.

"Yes, I just wish he would've picked a more romantic setting." Marian chuckled before asking "So why are you thinking about proposing to my granddaughter?"

"…Well, it's complicated." Hannah mumbled, realizing there was no point in denying it to Marian "But after the other night I realized that life is short and ever since then I've been thinking I want to prove to Robyn how much I love her."

"And you think getting married will prove that?" Marian asked dubiously.

"Right." Hannah nodded.

"Wrong." Marian reacted before flicking Hannah's black nose "You think a wedding ring proves how much you love someone? News flash; it doesn't."

"But you said…" Hannah began.

"Listen closely, my dear." Marian cut in with a stern voice "Right now you're reacting out of fear, not love, you want to propose to Robyn because you think it's some sort of safety net not because you feel that it's the right thing to do. Marriage doesn't prove love, loads of unmarried couples are in love, marriage is a promise to share your lives together and it's a decision that should be made out of happiness not fear."

Hannah let the words sink in before reaching out and hugging the retired heroine "Thank you Marian."

"Anytime, my dear." Marian smiled, hugging the girl back "But just so you know, my engagement ring will always be available to you."

"I think I'll hold off for a while." Hannah grinned.

At that moment Luna strolled into the observation deck with Olivia on her shoulder "Hey," The surgeon waved "What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, I was just boring the poor girl with stories from my youth." Marian told a half truth.

Forty minutes later, all of team Ceartais, plus Robin sr. and Marian were gathered around the table in the observation deck. They had just finished the debrief of the drug bust, along with assigning a new rota while Robyn, Hannah and Luna were in Bunnyburrow for the next few days. And so they finally got to the issue that had been bugging Robyn since her 'Death'. "So have you nerds figured out how I pulled off resurrection?" She asked, aiming the question at Luna, Olivia and Marian.

Luna shrugged off being called a nerd and explained "The bullet tore through your frontal lobe and went straight through the other lobes of your brain that control your motor functions and memory, even if you are immortal you should've suffered some brain damage."

"So how come she didn't? I mean she seems fine, right?" Kion asked, sounding concerned.

"She is fine but only thanks to the steel blood, it seems like mine and Luna's invention has evolved a little further." Olivia bragged, walking atop the table with a cherry lollipop in her mouth "You see the nanomachines record and share all your body's functions among themselves, like a hive mind, so we're talking your immune system, your blood pressure, even your stored memories."

"So you're saying Robyn and Stripe's memory are like saved to the cloud?" Kodi struggled to comprehend.

"In lament's terms, yes." Luna replied "When Robbie suffered the headshot, the nanomachines repaired not only the body but the mind from the data saved."

"I'm starting think my body's more like a computer." Robyn laughed nervously.

"But why did Robyn, you know…" Hannah started but didn't want to describe her love's feral state.

"Go all '28 days later'?" Olivia finished.

"Yeah." Hannah concurred, not pleased with the reference.

"I can explain that one," Marian piped up "like I said all of Robyn's vitals sky rocketed while her brain tried to repair itself, but seeing as Robyn wasn't in control, steel blood took the wheel, so to speak."

"So the little nanobots were the ones making me like a zombie?" Robyn asked, sounding confused.

"Indeed, my dear. They tapped into the most base instincts your body has; survival. You acted like a savage because that dormant predatory instinct is nestled in there." Marian explained, tapping the side of her head "But that's not all, your strength and speed were increased by nearly 300%, well that's what the data from the steel blood suggests."

"Whoa, Zombie mode sounds pretty awesome." Robyn couldn't help but smile.

"Don't call it that," Hannah shuddered "how about survival mode?"

"What's the matter, babe? Afraid this zombie might bite you?" Robyn kidded.

"I know you wouldn't." Hannah replied, putting her paw atop of Robyn's and instantly cursing herself for being clingy again.

000

It was the early evening now and Luna returned home to her penthouse, she had been trying in vain to contact Alice but there had been no answer but as soon as she stepped into her penthouse she saw a welcome sight. On the sofa in the spacious and luxurious living room was the sleeping form of Alice, the doe was garbed in one of Luna's blouses (Which was like a night dress on her) with her head propped up on a cushion. As soon as Luna let out a small titter caused by the adorable sight, the bunny opened one of her golden eyes but relaxed when she saw who was approaching " _Bon soir."_ She said sleepily.

"Hey, I tried calling you." Luna said softly, trotting over to her girlfriend.

"Sorry, I just haven't been in the best mood the last couple of days." Alice made up an excuse, sitting up.

"Is something wrong?" The vixen fretted.

"It's just a work thing, don't worry about it." Alice lied.

"Oh…" Luna responded, clearly unconvinced but she didn't want to push Alice to talk if she didn't want to "Well, I've had a pretty rough time with my night time gig."

"I saw the news, you were successful, no?" Alice asked.

"We were but Andraste got in the way again." Luna admitted, her mental wounds seeping into her voice "She nearly killed someone."

Alice tugged at Luna's sleeve and pulled her down to the sofa so she could hug her "I'm so sorry, if I'd known I would've picked up my phone."

"It's ok, you're here now. That's all that matters." Luna replied, hugging the bunny back, the scent of her perfume making the archer's heart flutter.

"Listen, how about we have a lazy night? You and me on the sofa, under a duvet, watch a film and maybe something more?" Alice offered while marking Luna with her scent glands in her cheeks.

"That sounds perfect, let me get my PJs on." Luna responded, but as she got off the sofa she got the sudden urge to say 'I love you', she didn't know why, it was completely foolish but it still pained her not to say it. Luna kept her face turned away as she walked to her bedroom, wondering if this was how it was going to be from now on, being scared of saying the L word. And on the sofa the bunny was also deep in her own romantic malaise; she looked at Luna walk away and knew that one day soon she would disappear from her life forever, Alice could never let Luna be in the sights of the Mokuzai clan even if it meant utter heartbreak for the both of them.

000

" **The Train to Bunnyburrow will arrive at platform 8 in approximately 5 minutes**!" The loud speaker echoed through the train station.

"You hear that Ben? The Train's nearly here, go back to city hall and guard Alana!" Nick stressed, the fox was dressed in a casual shirt and jeans instead of his suit.

"Not until you're on that train, sir." Ben replied, the diligent dingo was keeping an eye on all the other mammals on the platform.

"I swear I'm going to go back to calling you Barry if you're not careful." Nick gave an annoyed grunt.

"Nick, will you relax, he's just doing his job." Jack tried to calm his best friend down.

"Jack's right, this little trip is only part business, you need to chill out more." Skye backed up her husband while typing away on her phone.

Sat on a bench near the chatting adults, Hannah and Robyn were sat, with their paws locked. "Hey Princess, I need to apologise to you." Hannah said timidly, the striped hybrid was dressed in a gorgeous blue sun dress.

"What for?" Robyn asked back, tucking her phone back into her shorts.

"I know I've been annoying with the whole clingy thing since the other night, I'm trying to get over it but it's hard, I just want to say sorry because I think I made you uncomfortable." Hannah spoke her mind.

Robyn responded by kissing her girlfriend on the cheek and saying "You didn't make me uncomfortable and you don't need to worry, I'm not going anywhere. The only reason I got a little pissed off was because I really needed the bathroom, that's all."

Hannah smiled and rested her head on Robyn's shoulder before replying "Well I'm going to make it up to you anyway, I'm going to make sure you have the best birthday ever."

"I'll hold you to that." Robyn giggled.

All this was observed by Luna who was stood a few metres away, she looked at the young couple with envy, the two girls knew that they loved one another and weren't afraid to show how they felt. Luna had regretted not saying 'I love you' to Alice last night, she had wanted to say multiple times through the evening and especially when they had sex but cowardice was holding the vixen back and the words burnt like acid in her throat. "You ok, sweetie?" Judy asked, noticing the down look on her eldest kit's face.

"I'm fine, just a little tired." Luna fibbed.

Judy knew there was something else up but knew from experience that it was better pursue it when they were alone and not with a crowd "Ok, just make sure to have a nap on the train." She soothed, gently patting Luna on the back.

The vibrating buzz of Luna's phone snapped the vixen out of her dreary thoughts, she fished out her phone and opened up the message on screen, it was from Alice; BOOK STORE TO YOUR LEFT, LOOK IN THE ROMANCE SECTION xxx AK. Luna immediately looked to her left and saw a bookshop in the atrium of the train station, was this serendipity? Had the universe given Luna another chance to say 'I love you'? The vixen had to know. Luna quickly looked to the travelling party and gave an excuse "You know what, I think I'm going to buy a book to read on the train." Sounding awkward before dashing towards the bookstore.

"Be quick, the train's due any minute." Nick called out as the surgeon ran off.

Luna entered briskly through the store's entrance and glanced the tops of bookshelves which had the genres of books printed on them, she spotted romance on the other side of a magazine rack, she scooted around it and found a beauty awaiting. There was Luna's little otaku; dressed in her usual purple hoodie and black skirt looking up her with those golden eyes that always ensnared her. "Alice." Luna smiled, slightly out of breath.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to see you before you went on your trip." Alice blurted out, her nervous demeanour made her appear cuter.

"It's ok, I'm so glad you're here." Luna replied honestly, taking hold of Alice before surprising the lapin with a long and passionate kiss.

When Luna freed Alice from the embrace, the white furred doe said breathlessly "Wow." Luna had never kissed that way before, it felt different, it felt like heaven.

Luna then took hold of both of Alice's paw, plucked up her courage and began to speak "I need to tell you something, I tried to tell you last night but I wimped out, Alice I-"

"Hey Luna, the train's arrived, so let's…" Judy said, walking from behind the magazine rack and stumbling into the romantic moment, Judy's amethyst eyes went wide when she realised she had ruined a very private moment "Ohhhhhhhhh, hi." She said awkwardly, wanting the ground to open up and swallow her.

Luna's head was spinning with how awkward this moment was, she couldn't react, Alice read this and greeted Judy in an equally embarrassed manner " _Bonjour Chief Wilde."_

(AN/ Judy you gone f**ked up! Will Luna ever get to say the L word? Will Ronin survive long enough to hear it? What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on we're off to Bunnyburrow! We catch up with the Hopps and some old friends, Blake faces the consequences for snitching, Preparations for Robyn's birthday are under way and Judy tries to make amends for ruining Luna's confession. Please Review and C YA SOON!)


	44. Love Isn't A Rose

(AN/ Hey folks I'm finally back. I'm so sorry about the delay, there was a family emergency that I had to deal with, there may be more delays coming soon, it's sort of an ongoing thing. Thank you so much for your messages of support and thank you to the TAS dev team who's been keeping my spirits up during this crisis. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 43- Love isn't a rose…**

"It's ok, I'm so glad you're here." Luna replied honestly, taking hold of Alice before surprising the lapin with a long and passionate kiss.

When Luna freed Alice from the embrace, the white furred doe said breathlessly "Wow." Luna had never kissed her that way before, it felt different, it felt like heaven.

Luna then took hold of both of Alice's paw, plucked up her courage and began to speak "I need to tell you something, I tried to tell you last night but I wimped out, Alice I-"

"Hey Luna, the train's arrived, so let's…" Judy said, walking from behind the magazine rack and stumbling into the romantic moment, Judy's amethyst eyes went wide when she realised she had ruined a very private moment "Ohhhhhhhhh, hi." She said awkwardly.

Luna's head was spinning with how awkward this moment was, she couldn't react, Alice read this and greeted Judy in an equally embarrassed manner " _Bonjour_ Chief Wilde _."_

Luna looked at her Mom with a combination of frustration and disbelief. The poor vixen was starting to feel like she couldn't catch a break. Luna was screaming mentally; _Mom! Please leave! Turn around and leave! Don't ruin this for me…_

But of course, the overly polite police chief extended her paw and said in a gauche manner "You must be Alice, it's so nice to finally meet you."

Alice was convinced that Judy felt the same social discomfort she was experiencing right now but Alice had the extra factor of being one of Zootopia's most wanted, the swordswoman was praying that the cop wouldn't recognise her voice from the Rose Thorn "And you, Chief. Luna talks about you all the time." Alice responded in a clumsy manner.

"Oh please, call me Judy." She replied, getting a good look at the rabbit, Alice really was beautiful but there was something familiar about those golden eyes.

Luna decided to intervene before the conversation descended into a more cringe-worthy level "Um, Mom, you should head to the platform, I'll be there in a second." Luna ushered, placing a guiding paw on her Mom's shoulder and gently pushing her towards the book's shop's exit.

Judy got the hint and let out a garbled "O-Oh right, the train, uh, bye Alice." Giving a small wave and early bumping into a boar as she hurried out of the bookstore.

"Well that was painful." Alice breathed, relieved that Judy didn't notice her alter ego "So what did you want to tell me?"

Luna felt put on the spot, her ears went flat against her skull and her pulse started to pick up pace again. Judy had innocently wrecked the perfect moment. But Luna was still determined to say those three little words, despite losing her nerve and having to catch her train, so the vixen came up with a compromise that was cunning, cowardly and childish. The vixen crouched down so she was eye level with Alice, caught off guard with a quick kiss before swiftly whispering in her ear "I love you." Before springing up and running out of the bookstore leaving the stunned bunny frozen in place.

Alice's eyes were locked on Luna as she sprinted towards the train, all the while there were butterflies fluttering in her tummy. She felt dizzy as the words echoed in her mind and her heart swelled with too many emotions to count "She loves me." She murmured softly, having to stop herself from weeping in the middle of the book store; only one other mammal had said these words to her, Oni, her master and more importantly, her adoptive mother. Alice was caught between joy and sorrow; joy at being told 'I love you' and sorrow for knowing that she would break Luna's heart soon enough. " _Je t'aime aussi_." She spoke, looking at her love hop onto the train.

000

The train from Zootopia to Bunnyburrow was always a packed one, most of the passengers were city rabbits off to visit their families in the farming county but there were also tourists, looking for a vacation in the idyllic countryside. But this train was especially packed for a reason; Carrot Days. The annual harvest festival was usually seen by most Bunnyburrow families as a time for a reunion and the Hopps clan were no different. But this would be the first time Nick would attending the Carrot Days festival as a political guest and not just as a son-in-law of the Hopps. This was one of the many thoughts bugging him as he sipped a cup of blueberry tea in his seat, Jack who was sat opposite his oldest friend took note of the troubled look on the mayor's face and asked "You going to tell me what's bothering you or I'm going to have to guess?"

"Huh?" Nick sounded, emerging from his thoughts.

"You look like something's eating at you." Jack pointed out "And don't bother denying it, I've known you since we were in diapers."

"Just a little stressed about a few things, Skippy." Nick answered, knowing it was ok to call the striped buck by his childhood nickname "I'm a little nervous about meeting the Bunnyburrow mayor, I don't want to make a fool of myself or Stu and Bonnie for that matter."

"That'll be fine," Jack waved off before accusing "but that's not the real thing bothering you, is it?"

Nick gave a grunt before confirming "No…I'm thinking about my folks."

"Oh." Jack sounded, surprised by the answer, he had expected Nick to remain stoic when it came to Marian and Robin senior.

"It's dumb really, I'm furious with them but this trip doesn't feel the same without them. I mean this has been a tradition for nearly sixteen years; my family and yours heading to Bunnyburrow and having a great weekend but this time it feels…wrong." Nick explained, sounding pissed off at himself for being upset.

Jack shared his best friend's longing for the company of the elder Wildes, but knew Nick was still deeply hurt by his parent's betrayal "Are you regretting barring them from this trip?" he asked with caution.

"Yes and no." Nick pouted "I love my parents but I'm just so…argh! They just keep acting like irresponsible assholes."

"Maybe it's best you keep your distance from them for a while, the wounds are still fresh, just give it time." Jack advised.

Nick took the words on board before adding "You know my old man one told me he loves my Mom but he doesn't trust her, now I know how he feels."

In the same train carriage, Skye, Hannah and Robyn were up on the higher deck taking in the sights of the California countryside, well Skye and Robyn were at least. Despite Hannah's vow to be less clingy, the striped hybrid couldn't help but keep her paw locked with Robyn's. The teen took note of her excessive handholding and made up an excuse to give Robyn a break "Listen, I'm going to head to the dining car to get some snacks, do you two want anything?"

"Nothing for me, honey." Skye replied, not taking her eyes off the view.

"A can of sprite please." Robyn smiled, watching her girlfriend unfold her cane and make her way down the small flight of stairs.

A minute or so passed with a comfortable silence between Robyn and her godmother before the silence was broken by a giggling behind them, both of them spied a smitten bunny couple cuddling on a seat with the female marking her boyfriend with the scent glands in her cheeks. Robyn turned back sharply, seemingly embarrassed by the very public display of affection, her long ginger ears went droopy and her fur went on end.

Skye noticed the teen's reaction and chuckled "For all your bravery and bravado, I still can't believe you're flustered so easily."

"Skye…" Robyn gave a very teenage groan.

"I'm just messing with you," Skye eased "you're so easy to wind up."

"You're a riot." Robyn replied with dry sarcasm.

"Oh you look like your dad when you pout," Skye sniggered "I bet you got just as worked up when Hannah marked you."

"Uh…" Robyn sounded.

"You marked her? Well I am surprised." Skye said, sounding impressed.

"Actually, we haven't marked each other." Robyn corrected in a timid tone.

"…Oh." Skye reacted with quiet shock, genuinely caught unawares by the revelation.

"Is that weird?" Robyn asked anxiously.

"No, no, of course not. All couples move at a different pace." Skye tried to extinguish the fire she just started.

"But…but when did you and Jack mark each other?" Robyn asked a thorny question.

Skye gave a unsure smile but still told the truth "After a few weeks."

Robyn hung her head and spoke with sad realisation "Me and Hannah have nearly been dating six months and…oh no."

Skye cursed herself for bringing up the subject, she scooched over to Robyn and wrapped an arm around her goddaughter before saying "Listen you and Hannah are the perfect couple, everyone can see that you love each other, so don't let this bother you."

"But marking shows you love someone, right?" Robyn asked, sounding worried.

"Not always, it's also a sign of being attracted to someone." Skye tried to gloss over.

"But I am attracted to Hannah, she's sexy as hell." Robyn declared before realising what she had said to Skye "I-I mean, Hannah's v-very beautiful!"

Skye had to use all her mental strength to not laugh at the girl she hoped would one day be her daughter-in-law. She took a moment to compose herself then suggested "Then why don't you mark Hannah the next time you two are alone?"

"I can't do that!" Robyn exclaimed at low volume as to not embarrass herself in front of the other passengers.

"Why not?" Skye let a small smile emerge on her face as she spoke to the ruffled girl.

"Well…Hannah's always been the one to make the first move. Hannah kissed me first, she was the one who got me to dance at pride…she's so confident, I'm nothing like that." Robyn pitied herself.

"I'm sure Hannah gets nervous too when it comes to relationship stuff, maybe she's a little scared of taking the next step." Skye figured.

"Really?" Robyn asked, relaxing a little.

"It's possible, why don't you make that your mission this weekend? I know Hannah will be over the moon if you marked her." Skye smiled.

"…You're right, I'll do it." Robyn rallied herself.

"Atta' girl." Skye grinned, ruffling the fur atop the hybrid's head before heading for the stairs "I'm going to head to the bathroom, think about what I said."

A few minutes later, Skye emerged from the train's bathroom and was met with the sight of Luna marching away from Judy. "Listen I'm sorry, ok?" Judy fussed, following her eldest kit like a lost puppy.

"I've already told you that it's ok, now can we drop it?" Luna asked, clearly wanting some space.

"But-" Judy began.

"Listen, this weekend is about Robbie's birthday, we're not focusing on me, I just want to see the family and make sure Robbie has a great birthday." Luna underlined, before stomping off, leaving a dejected looking Judy in her wake.

"What the heck was that about?" Skye queried, puzzled by the exchange.

"It's complicated." Judy sighed.

"When is anything not complicated with our families?" Skye jested "Come on, what's the story?"

"Ok but keep this to yourself; Luna's dating someone new but she's keeping it under wraps." Judy explained, omitting that Luna's new flame was female "Anyway when I went to get Luna out of the bookstore at the train station I kind of ruined a private moment between them."

"Why is Luna keeping it a secret?" Skye asked in a perplexed manner before joking "Let me guess, she's a lesbian now."

"Uhhhhh…" Judy sounded.

Skye read Judy's reaction and gawped "Oh my gosh, I was joking."

"Ssshhh, keep it down." Judy hushed, nervously looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Luna's dating a girl?" Skye whispered "But why doesn't she want anyone to know?"

"She says she's still trying to figure her sexuality out. Which I get, when she comes out it has to be on her terms, I don't want to force her." Judy answered, wishing she could talk and support Luna, but the defiant vixen was making it difficult.

"I guess." Skye agreed "But how did you find out?"

"I could smell a bunny doe's scent on her." Judy replied absentmindedly.

"Wait, she's dating a bunny? Luna's inter too?" Skye quietly gasped.

Judy facepalmed herself before groaning "When am I going to stop screwing up today?"

"Damn like father like daughter, Nick fell for a rabbit and so did Luna." Skye commented.

"Um, you're married to a bunny too. Is it just a fox thing to be attracted to us?" Judy pointed out before pondering.

"Must be." Skye shrugged "But honestly I think you're worrying too much, just let the conversation come naturally."

"I suppose you're right." Judy concurred "But it's so hard to get Luna to open up."

"Well, tonight we're going to do our traditional girls night out with your sisters, right?" Skye grinned "So get a few drinks in Luna and I'll bet she'll be coming to you for advice."

"Your solution is getting Luna drunk?" Judy asked dubiously.

"Have you got a better idea?" Skye responded.

"No." Judy sighed.

000

Seeing as it was the Carrot Days weekend the entirety of Bunnyburrow train station was swamped with rabbits greeting their loved ones as they got off the train from Zootopia. So Bonnie had to text Judy telling the party to head straight to the Hopps farm homestead instead of fighting through the mounds of bunnies at the train station. Luckily for the Wildes and Savages, there were Zuber drivers in the farming community. As the minivan pulled into Hopps farm they could already see dozens of Bunnies waiting for their arrival. "Ready to get mobbed Skippy?" Nick asked, bracing himself for inevitable bunny pile.

"I'm never ready." Jack laughed nervously, remembering how sore his neck was after last year.

"Oh don't be such babies." Skye said, shoving her husband.

"It's a traditional Bunnyburrow welcome, getting tackled by a swarm of rabbit kits is our way of saying welcome to the neighbourhood." Judy smiled before opening the sliding passenger of the minivan.

Before everyone was out of the van the kits had raced over and started jumping all over the guests, with only two left standing; Robyn and Hannah. Robyn was standing because of her super strength but Hannah was left confused asto why none of the kits had leapt at her like they usually do, leaving her to ask "Where's my hug?"

One of the smallest kits, a nephew of Judy's by the name of Herb, walked up to Hannah and hugged her leg "Sowwy Hannah, Gwandma said we can't tackle you." The little bunny said, his speech impediment making it easy for Hannah to identify him.

Hannah crouched down and scooped up Herb while asking "And why's that?"

"Cos'Gwandma says we might huwtyou cos' you'we blind." Herb answered innocently, not noticing the hurt expression on Hannah's muzzle.

"Oh Herb, you can't hurt me, I'm a tough city girl." Hannah tried to brush off despite feeling wounded, she actually loved all the kits swarming her whenever she came to Bunnyborrow.

"Ok!" Herb said brightly before turning to his siblings and cousins and shouting "Guys Hannah said it's ok to tackle her!"

A collective "YAY!" came from the kits and they all jumped on Hannah, who fell to the ground with a laugh.

"Kids, what did I tell you about jumping on Hannah?!" Bonnie Hopps shrilled, walking over with the rest of the adults.

"It's fine Bonnie, I'm blind, not made of glass." Hannah assured, covered head to toe with bunny kits.

"R-right." Bonnie stumbled, caught off guard by the response.

"Ok, kids I think they've had enough, get off them before they suffocate." Heather, Judy's older sister, ordered.

"Awwwww." The kits sounded as they unenthusiastically clambered off the party from Zootopia.

"Ow." Skye murmured, putting a paw to her sore back.

"Don't be such a baby." Jack grinned, echoing his wife's earlier words.

Robyn and Luna rushed to Bonnie and hugged her before Judy could get a chance "We missed you Grandma." Robyn smiled, genuinely happy to see the matriarch.

"You look great." Luna complemented, the mature bunny still looked fit and healthy despite being in her seventies.

"Oh it's so nice to have you all home." Bonnie gushed, hugging tightly onto her granddaughters.

After ten or so minutes when all the hellos and catch ups had been completed the sound of a rickety old tractor reached the ears of Luna and Robyn, the sisters who were on the porch knew exactly who was coming from the fields, they bounded off the porch and ran towards the dirt track that led to the fields to see Stu Hopps on his tractor. "Grandpa!" Luna and Robyn hollered joyously, both girls loved all their grandparents but were especially close with the old bunny.

"Well if it ain't the prettiest girls of all Zootopia." The pudgy old rabbit chuckled, turning off the engine and climbing down.

As soon as his feet hit the dirt the sisters ensnared him in a huge hug "It's so good to see you." Luna beamed.

"Aw, you two never change do ya'?" Stu tittered, hugging the girls back.

"Nope and we never will." Robyn smiled.

Nearly two hours later the Wildes and Savages, along with a hundred or so members of the Hopps clan were sat at the picnic tables outside the big house. These tables were always used during special occasions and family get togethers. Bonnie and some of her grown up children had prepared lunch which included some chicken and fish for their predator guests, although there was an awkward moment when Stu asked where Robin Senior and Marian were, to which Judy quickly fibbed about them having the flu.

"So…full." Jack breathed, pushing away his plate.

"The foods lovely as always Bonnie." Skye smiled at the hostess.

"Thank you Skye, we gotta' feed you up on some good country food while you're away from the city." Bonnie replied, sipping a cup of coffee.

"I'm surprised you get any decent food at all in Zootopia, with The Wave and all." Heather commented, munching on some carrot sticks and hummus.

"Never mind the Wave. All I see on the TV these days is those Drowned psychopaths." Stu worried aloud "I do worry about you folks being in that darn city."

"It's not so bad, Zootopia's got it own guardian angels." Luna gave a knowing smile.

"You mean those super heroes?" Heather responded "To be honest I couldn't believe it when I saw them standing next to Judy during that press conference."

"Awe they weal supewhewoes Aunt Judy?" Herb asked with his eyes shining bright.

"They sure are, they help the police lock up the bad guys." Judy smiled, eyeing the small smirks on Luna, Robyn and Hannah's faces.

"So who's your favourite hero Herb?" Robyn asked with curiosity.

"The Mage!" Herb declared, grabbing a celery stick and pointing it like a wand.

"Mage? Really?" Hannah asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Yeah he's so cool with his magic wand, his awesome pick up twuck and he can even tuwn invisible!" Herb listed with excitement.

"But what about the others? Like Andraste?" Luna asked, partly insulted that her own cousin thought another hero was the coolest.

"Or Scarlet?" Robyn chimed in.

"Or Bullet?" Hannah added.

"They'we ok I guess, but The Mage is still the coolest." Herb smiled.

Nick couldn't help but chuckle as he observed the irked faces of the three heroines "You heard him girls, The Mage is the coolest." To which the three gave a deadpan stare to the red fox.

"So Nick, what's all this business you got to with our mayor?" Stu asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Mostly contracts that reduce taxes between the two counties, trade incentives and getting Bunnyburrow some workers from the city." Nick explained

"Didn't you say Mayor Beets was dropping by today?" Judy asked her mom.

"Mayor Beets retired in the spring, we've elected a new mayor." Bonnie corrected.

"Oh, who's the new mayor?" Judy asked, not surprised that Beets had retired, that old rabbit was mayor back in her childhood.

"Well…" Bonnie started.

HONK-HONK! The sound of a car horn stopped the conversation and everyone turned around to see a rusty old military style jeep coming up the drive. "Yeesh, who drives that rust bucket?"

"The mayor of Bunnyburrow." Bonnie smirked.

The jeep parked up and out of the driver seat stepped out a black wooled ewe in her early forties with blue eyes and a pink muzzle "Hey ya'll." She waved.

"Sharla!" Judy's face lit up, getting out of her seat and trotting over to her childhood friend.

"Judy, it's been so long." Sharla smiled, opening her arms and letting Judy hug her.

"I can't believe you're the mayor, last thing I heard you were still with NASA." Judy said, pulling back from the hug.

"I quit NASA and the air force a few years back, it was actually my husbands who convinced me to run for mayor." Sharla replied.

"Husbands?" Judy asked, thinking that the sheep had got her words jumbled.

"Yeah but we were right, you do make a great mayor." A chipper voice cut in.

Judy looked past Sharla to see two more familiar faces from her past, one was a heavyset fox holding two boxes with the words 'Grey Bakery' on them, the other was a slim ferret holding a sleeping white wooled lamb in his arms. "Gideon, Travis?" Judy gawped before looking at the baby and cooing "Oh my gosh you're such a cute family."

"Good to see you Judy." Travis smiled

Judy hurried over to Travis looked at the little lamb who was less than a year old and grinned "Oh sweet cheese and crackers, he is adorable."

"That he is," Gideon said with pride "we adopted little Levi here six months back."

While Judy gushed over the baby Nick sauntered over to Sharla and introduced himself "Nice to meet you Sharla, I'm Nick Wilde, Judy's husband."

Sharla shook Nicks paw and replied "Nice to meet you Mayor Wilde."

000

After joining the Hopps for a spot of lunch the Greys made their way home but not before Heather and Judy convinced Sharla to tag along to their 'Girls night out' at the Cloven Hoof bar later. So while the rest of the family continued preparations for Carrot Days and Robyn's birthday party, Judy, Skye, Luna, Heather and fifty or so Hopps girls made their way to the Cloven Hoof. The place was a typical country bar with American flags everywhere and country music playing but this place was the Hopps family usual watering hole seeing as it was the only bar for miles around.

It was close to ten pm when Sharla showed up and Judy wasted no time catching up with her old friend "So your eldest kit is your step daughter?" Sharla asked, looking over at Luna who was in the middle of a pool game with one of her cousins.

"Yeah but she's called me mom since she was seven, she's my little girl no matter what." Judy smiled, supping her sixth vodka and coke of the night.

"And you're youngest is turning sixteen on Sunday, damn I'm 42 and I just became a mother, I feel like I'm playing catch up." Sharla sighed, taking a swig of her beer.

"But Levi is so cute, plus you've got two good fellas to help raise him." Judy encouraged.

"Yeah, Travis and Gideon are my world." Sharla said in a mushy manner, all the beers were starting to get to her.

"Can I ask how the whole poly thing came about with you guys?" Judy asked carefully.

"It's kind of funny really, I never thought I'd get married to one of my childhood bullies let alone two of them." Sharla said with warmth "When I quit Nasa and the air force I was in a bad place, I had PTSD after a test flight went wrong, three of my crew died and was too scared to step foot on a plane again."

"Sharla, I'm so sorry." Judy sympathised.

"It's ok. Anyway I started going to group therapy and Travis was one of the mammals who attended the sessions with me, he had his own demons to deal with after being in the marines. Anyway we became friends, he reintroduced to Gideon, who he was already married to and after that we just started hanging out a lot." Sharla recalled "But soon enough I was staying over in the guest room of their home a lot, we'd go to dinner and the movies together and then one time while we're at this restaurant a waitress commented that we were such a cute unit. I asked what a unit was and Travis had to explain what polyamory was and after that the three of us talked about it, both Gid and Travis are Bi and said they were open to the idea. So we took it slow, went on a few dates and before I knew it I fell in love with them."

"Aww, so when did you get married?" Judy asked.

"Well we're not technically married." Sharla corrected "Poly marriages aren't legal yet, so we had a spiritual wedding and I legally changed my name from Shears to Grey."

"That's so sweet." Judy gave a tipsy smile.

The rest of the night passed along with drunk shenanigans ensuing; the fluffle of bunnies plus the two vixens and ewe got up and danced, sang karaoke and made fools of themselves. Judy was at the bar waiting to be served when the intoxicated Skye came over and whispered "So how's the plan going?"

"Plan? What Plan?" Judy responded, feeling buzzed from the booze.

"The 'Get Luna Drunk' plan." Skye reminded in a quiet voice.

Judy looked over her shoulder and could see Luna having a drunken arm wrestle with her Aunt Heather while being cheered on by Sharla and some other Hopps does. "She looks pretty drunk already." Judy noted

"Well I don't think she's drunk enough to talk about 'That', I think we need someone's help with this predicament." Skye grinned.

"Who?" Judy asked, wary of Skye's smile.

"The Vodka Witch." Skye answered and before Judy could react the arctic fox whipped out her credit card and hollered at the Ram behind the bar "Barkeep, a bottle of your strongest vodka please!"

"Well I got a bottle of Good Ol' Sailor vodka, it's 170 proof. You sure you can handle that?" The Ram Barkeep chuckled.

"I can't but I know a Rabbit and Vixen who can." Skye replied mischievously, handing the credit card over to the jolly Ram.

"Skye what are you doing!? I'm not going into Vodka Witch mode, it's been like four years since I went that crazy." Judy flapped, memories of her past drunken escapades came into focus as the Ram placed the colourful bottle on the bar.

"Then it's time for her triumphant return and I think you should introduce Luna to the witchy way of life." Skye persuaded before spotting Luna had won the arm wrestling match against her aunt, she shouted over the sounds of cheering bunnies "Hey Luna, how about a victory drink?"

The plan worked well. Too well. By the time the bar closed Judy and Luna were both the most inebriated out of the whole group and Skye grinned with satisfaction as the mother and daughter were laughing like idiots and holding onto one another for support. Most of the Hopps sisters dispersed, having home all-over Bunnyburrow leaving a quad of drunk mammals walking to the Hopps family farm; Judy, Luna, Skye and Heather.

"I WANT WAFFLES!" Judy declared loudly "Let's find a diner!"

"Oh my gosh, YES! I want fired chicken with mine!" Luna yipped, nearly tripping over.

"It's nearly 2am the diners around here are shut." Heather pointed out, she was drunk but nowhere near the levels of her sister and niece.

"Booooooooooo." Judy whined, stumbling down the road towards her childhood home.

"Maybe- **hick** -if we a-ask Grandma she could make us some?" Luna pondered while hiccupping.

"I don't think Bonnie will be impressed if you wake her for waffles." Skye smiled, picturing the peeved face of the matriarch.

"Ok f-forget about the waffles, we'll steal cookies from the kitchen!" Judy slurred, her amethyst eyes were bleary from the booze.

"Yeah!" Luna agreed over-enthusiastically.

Heather just shook her head and laughed at the two, they had arrived at Heather's homestead, a mile west of the main Hopps household, this was her stop and also Skye's since the Savages were bunking in this home since the main house was so packed. "Ok, this is where we part, you sure you guys are ok to walk back?" Heather asked in a protective manner.

"Ugh, of course we a-re, you sound like Mom." Judy sniped before giggling.

"Yeah- **Hick-** it's a straight road, we'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine." Luna dragged, struggling to stay balanced.

"Have a puke bucket ready for the morning." Skye taunted as her and Heather walked towards the wood panelled farmhouse.

"Puke? Ha! As if, I'm n-not even that drunk!" Judy rebuffed, her body swaying from side to side as the mother and daughter began the last mile to the main homestead…at a very slow and stumbling pace.

Judy looked up at her eldest kit and started giggling like a child causing Luna to ask "What's so- **Hick-** funny?"

"Sk-Skye's plan worked." Judy gave a cheesy smile.

"What plan?" Luna questioned, her amber eyes half open.

"Getting you wasted!" Judy declared dramatically "You n-need to open up about that pretty doe you're dating!"

"That's- **Hick-** sneaky!" Luna responded, wagging her finger at the police chief.

"Moms have to be sneaky." Judy smirked "Look you m-may as well tell me, there's a 99% chance I w-won't remember this tomorrow."

Luna pondered this for a moment before agreeing "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Ok, does s-she come from a big bunny family?" Judy queried.

Luna paused before answering, knowing that she would have to omit some stuff " **Hick,** no she was adopted, it was only Alice and her mom but she's gone now."

"So she's going to be in for a t-treat when she meets our f-family." Judy slurred.

"She's NOT meeting our family!" Luna said firmly, trying to sound serious despite her blood alcohol level.

"Aw, whyyyyyyyyyy?" Judy moaned.

"Cos' we're not g-going to last, everyone's going to h-hate- **Hick-** her." Luna answered, morphing into a sad drunk.

"Why would we hate h-her? Is it because she's French?" Judy attempted to joke.

"I j-just know, ok." Luna dodged.

"Alright then, tell me this smart ass; do you l-love her?" Judy probed.

"…That's not fair." Luna mumbled, turning away from her mom.

"Do you love her? Y-yes or no?" Judy forced.

"Of course I love her." Luna admitted "B-but it will never work long t-term for us."

"Oh sweetie!" Judy gushed, hugging onto the vixen "If y-you love someone you gotta' fight for them, none of that 'If you love them, let them' c-crap."

"I dunno…" Luna reacted, sounding reluctant.

"Ok try this; tell m-me what you love about A-Alice?" Judy suggested.

"…S-she's a little nerd." Luna couldn't help but smile.

"Go on." Judy willed.

"She's got this dry wit that always make me l-laugh." Luna answered with a drunk grin before listing "We're a lot alike, she's- **Hick-** a bit of rebel, we understand each other, I feel w-warm when I'm with her."

"That's it, keep going!" Judy encouraged.

"She's so flirty, it almost like she knows what I'm t-thinking. **Hick-** she's so passionate too and oh my god her scars are so…" Luna drifted off, a naughty smile creeping on her muzzle.

"Anything else?" Judy asked with a sly smile.

"Yeah, she's got the sexiest ass I've ever seen." Luna purred.

Judy threw her head back and laughed at the answer before adding "I'd say you've got someone worth fighting for."

"…I guess I do." Luna said, feeling a little more positive about her and Alice's future. She looked at Judy and smiled "Thanks mom."

"Anytime sweetie." Judy replied, glad that the awkwardness between them had gone. The bunny went back to looking down the road they were walking on, there was only half a mile left until they reached the main homestead but on the opposite side of the road she spotted something. There was a small construction area, surrounding some potholes in the road, there were all the hazard signs around it but also some traffic cones causing Judy to grin at Luna "I think it's time you join my coven."

Back at the homestead Nick was slumbering in one of the guest rooms, the forty nine year old fox had found it hard to fall asleep without Judy beside him and was only asleep an hour when he heard a loud slam come from downstairs. Nick stirred instantly, he sat up in bed and was listening for anymore noise, SLAM! It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen, Nick got up from the bed and opened the doorway to the upstairs hallway to find Bonnie and Stu had emerged from their rooms as well as Robyn. "What the heck is that noise?" Stu yawned.

"Did you lock the doors?" Bonnie fretted to her husband.

"I thought you did." Stu replied awkwardly.

"Burglars? I'll sort them for ya'." Robyn smirked, rushing to the staircase and making her way down stairs.

"Robyn!" Bonnie and Stu gasped.

"Damn it, kid." Nick groaned, chasing after his daughter with Stu and Bonnie close behind.

Some of the other Hopps clan had stepped out of their rooms causing Bonnie to order sternly "Stay in your rooms!" as she followed Nick downstairs.

Robyn slunk through the unlit house towards the kitchen with Nick and her maternal grandparents following, the hybrid was ready for a fight but all that tension went when she head a familiar voice slur "Where are those d-damn cookies?"

"Mom?" Robyn asked aloud as she came around the corner to see Judy and Luna looking in the kitchen cupboards, both of them wearing orange traffic cones on their heads.

Judy and Luna looked toward Nick, Robyn, Bonnie and Stu with half amused, half guilty expressions on their faces "Uh oh, busted." Luna sniggered.

"Geez, Jude, you nearly gave us a heart attack." Stu huffed.

"And what in tarnation have you two got on your heads?" Bonnie asked in a tone only a mother could muster.

"Our witch hats!" Judy answered.

"Oh no." Nick groaned.

"What do you mean witch hats?" Robyn asked, trying her best to contain her laughter at the two inebriated women.

"We're the Vodka Witches!" Judy proclaimed, waving her hands "And we d-demand cookies! Or we'll turn you into toads!"

Bonnie wore a scowl like thunder before pointing to the living room and nearly growling "The only thing you're getting is some sleep, now get on those sofas, I don't want you throwing up in the bedrooms."

"But we want- **Hick-** cookies!" Luna whined like a child.

Bonnie snapped her fingers and yelled "Sofas. Now!"

Luna's felt like a little kit again, she lowered her head and swayed towards the living room, leaning on Robyn for support. Judy was less compliant though, she stumbled over to Nick and grabbed him by his sleep shirt, pulling him down and whispering in his ear "This little witch w-wants her fox."

"C'mon Carrots, you heard your mother, let's get you on the couch." Nick laughed nervously.

"But I want you to knot m-me." Judy whispered seductively despite being soused.

Before Nick could react Bonnie stepped over and grabbed Judy by one of her ears and dragged her away "Ow, ow, ow! Mom let go!" she winced while being pulled into the living room.

Stu shook his head and sighed at his son in law "Looks like you've run into a vodka witch before."

"You have no idea." Nick breathed.

000

Dawn rose across Zootopia on Saturday morning but it was a grey and cloudy day, the clouds looked like they would burst with rain at any moment. Blake Gusteau was half asleep as he rode his bicycle to Gusteaus. The reason for going into work so early was due to the fact that every Saturday, the elite restaurant would do a brunch menu and Chef Remy always prepared for the rush of customers early and would rope in his nephew to help. He parked his bike outside the back door and chained it up, he opened the door and could already smell some of the fresh fruits and vegetables being prepared. He hung up his coat and walked into the kitchen but was met with a sight that made his heart sink and blood boil in the same moment; twenty rodents all armed with handguns were posted all around the kitchen; kneeling on the ground were Blake's uncles; Remy and Emile. And just behind them, sat on a chair and supping an espresso was Rattigan. The mob boss looked at his son and said coldly "Good morning Blake, I thought it'd be nice if we shared breakfast together."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Rattigan has Blake and his uncles in his clutches! What did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Rattigan shows no mercy, Judy and Luna face their hangovers, Olivia learns a dark truth and Hannah has a lapse in judgement. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	45. Love is a Dandelion

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/ Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais and this time I'm actually on schedule. Anyway I want to thank you all for the lovely reviews and kind messages while I've been dealing with my family emergency, you're all awesome. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 44- …Love is a dandelion**

Blake had tried to fight, of course he did, he ran right at Rattigan roaring with rage but two other rats tackled him to the ground before he got anywhere near the mob boss. It took four of Rattigan's heavies to restrain Blake, once the burly rat had stopped struggling Rattigan began to talk "You know what's hard to find in my line of work? Loyalty."

"Really? You're going to monologue?" Blake sneered.

"Yes I will and you're going to listen to every last word." Rattigan hissed before continuing "Now I always choose my employees on the basis of loyalty, I look into their backgrounds to see if they've ever blabbed to the police or screwed a fellow miscreant over. They all know what happens to folks who flip on me; they die, they're family dies and I make sure that everyone in the underworld knows about it."

"Is there a point you're trying to get across?" Blake sassed, trying to keep the attention on himself and away from Remy and Emile.

"The point is that none of my employees would ever snitch to the cops, thirty of them are in ZPD custody right now and not a single one of them has said a word." Rattigan replied.

"You must be proud." Blake snarked.

"Don't play games with me boy the only other mammals who knew about that drug drop was my suppliers." Rattigan gave a low growl.

"What drug drop?" Blake acted aloof.

"We both know you were listening in on my conversation with my lieutenants, admit it and I might feel merciful." Rattigan simmered.

Blake stifled a laugh before smirking "Mercy? You never show mercy."

Rattigan let out a tired sigh before replying "You know what? You're absolutely right." Producing a pistol from his blazer and pressing it against Emile's skull "Mercy isn't in my repertoire."

"Hey, what are you doing?! Aim that gun at me!" Blake yelled, starting to break free from the mobsters' grip, wanting to help his petrified uncle

"I will if you tell me what I want to hear or fatty here will have his brains staining the floor." Rattigan warned, taking joy at watching the terrified maître d tremble with dread.

"Ok I did it! I snitched on you to the ZPD!" Blake confessed, the looks of 'why?' were plastered on his uncles' faces, even he was cursing himself for being so naïve.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Rattigan tutted, removing the gun from Emile's forehead "Judging from your uncles' expressions I'm going to guess they weren't privy to your little plan, I think they're disappointed in you my boy."

"If you're going to kill me, get on with it, I don't want to listen to you drone on." Blake fired back.

"At death's door and you're still defiant," Rattigan commented, putting his gun away and strolling over to one of the kitchen's prep tables "I have to admit I'm a little bit proud."

"P-Please don't hurt him! I'll take whatever punishment instead!" Emile cried out despite his fear.

"He's your son, don't do this!" Remy begged, his stomach sinking as he watched Rattigan's paw glide over the sharp utensils.

"Your good uncles but like dear Blake said; I never show mercy." Rattigan said calmly before grabbing a meat hammer and swiftly striking Blake across the face with it, the metal spikes puncturing his flesh while his cheek bone broke from the sheer force of the heavy metal hammer.

Blake didn't scream he just let out a dull groan as his body went limp, he was barely conscious after the first strike, the mobsters let go of Blake and he fell to the cold tiles of the kitchen floor. "BLAKE!" Remy and Emile shouted together.

Blake was flipped onto his back by a strong kick from Rattigan, the younger rat was still dazed from the blow to his face when Rattigan brought down the meat hammer onto Blake's right femur, the crunch of bone was drowned out by the wail of pain that sprung from Blake's mouth and the dual cries for clemency from Remy and Emile. "I thought you were tough, or is all that muscle for show?" Rattigan growled "How about we test them out!" The drug lord then slammed the hammer down onto Blake's chest, then again and again and again until Blake screamed no more, he had blacked out from the trauma, most of his ribs were snapped like twigs, his gut was bleeding and already swelling from haemorrhages within. Remy and Emile looked on helplessly with tears falling from their eyes as she watched as Blake struggle to breath while his own blood pooled around him. "He didn't cry, I'll give him that." Rattigan panted, tired from the excessive beating "But now it's time to say farewell."

Rattigan raised the hammer above his head, intending to send a final blow to Blake's skull, Remy saw what was about to happen and roared "Gusteau's is yours!"

Rattigan stopped mid motion and asked sharply "What?"

"The restaurant! I'll sign the deed over to you! Just let us get Blake to a hospital!" Remy rambled desperately.

"You think this place is worth the hundreds of millions of dollars this bastard cost me?" Rattigan glowered.

"You wanted to use this place as a front right? Deal to high class clients? You can make your money back here!" Emile joined in, wondering how much longer Blake could last without medical attention.

"…Fine, seeing as he's family." Rattigan said, letting the hammer fall from his hand "But I am a just mammal, if Blake succumbs to his injuries I will leave you to grieve in peace."

"Thank you…" Remy cried with relief.

Rattigan looked down at his unconscious son and smirked "Whether you live or die, I'll still be the one laughing." He then stepped around Blake's body and walked to the back door, his cronies falling in behind while Emile rushed over to broken form of his nephew while Remy scrambled for his phone to ring for an ambulance.

000

Flight lieutenant Ray Kamino leaned back in his chair in Camelot's hangar, the RAF warrior was looking at a map of Zootopia with post it notes and photographs tacked on detailing the Drowned's movements in the city, waiting for his subordinate Zoe and the two NSA agents Chip and Dale to arrive and begin an intelligence briefing. The rest of Camelot were either on operations or sleeping in their bunks, it was just after dawn after all but Ray found it hard to get a decent night's sleep ever since Kiara went missing and now the fact that she was the Drowned's puppet made him even more restless, the tiger felt lost without his lioness but he still held onto the hope that they would be together again.

"Mornin' Sir." A bright and chipper voice chimed in, Ray turned his head and saw Zoe flapping towards him with Aleks walking beside her.

Ray skipped the pleasantries and frowned "I thought I ordered you to have bedrest Rojek?"

"I'm just here for the intelligence briefing." Aleks replied, holding his paws in innocence.

"…Fine, but if I see you near that firing range you can kiss that MCB job goodbye." Ray groused.

"Oh, you're always such a grumpy kitty in the morning." Zoe teased, landing atop Aleks head "You should take a leaf out of our book and wake up happy."

"Well all of us can't spend our nights shagging like teenagers." Ray gave a coy smile.

"Ouch, Kitty got claws." Zoe giggled while Aleks gave a rather embarrassed look.

At that moment a black rodent sized car drove into the hangar, the faces of Chip and Dale could be clearly seen in the windscreen "Here comes Tweddle Dumb and Tweddle Dee." Ray grumbled.

The very small car parked up and the two chipmunks got out with Dale opening with "I thought you were on recovery leave?" to Aleks.

"I'm just here to hear the latest intel." Aleks justified while fixing his glasses.

"Well there isn't much. Only a few dribs and drabs." Chip said honestly.

"So, our surveillance satellites haven't been able to pick up anything in Tundra Town?" Ray asked, already knowing the answer in his gut.

"We haven't been able to detect shit, it's like the Drowned are laying low after The Opera House attack." Chip confirmed.

"They're not laying low." A new voice cut in from above, everyone's eyes shot up in alarm to see Ronin standing on the rafters of the hangar "They're planning something big."

"Ronin!?" Aleks gasped, bracing for an attack that would never come.

Chip and Dale reacted by getting out their guns and aiming them at the assassin "You must be either pretty dumb or pretty desperate to come here Kirabito!" Dale blustered.

"I'm going to guess desperate." Ray said calmly, finding Rojek and the NSA agents' reactions amusing.

"Why's that?" Chip asked, his aim still on Ronin.

"Because if she wanted us dead she would've just dropped a grenade on us." Zoe smiled.

Chip and Dale heard this and saw the logic in Zoe's reasoning, they holstered their weapons and Ronin dropped down to the ground six feet away from the others "I'm sorry for disturbing your meeting." The swordswoman said formally.

"Cut to chase, you said the Drowned are planning something." Aleks snapped, the cop still had contempt for the bunny.

"Very well." Ronin replied, accepting Aleks' bitterness "I've got intelligence that the Drowned just bought 31 children off a known Mammal trafficker."

Everyone seemed shocked at this news, Ray knew Ronin was no trickster but proceeded to ask, "How do you know this?"

"I was hired to kill the slave trader, turns out he was snatching kids from wave towns, before I killed him I interrogated him to find out where the kids he snatched were, he usually sells them overseas but after some torture he told me Fuli and The Drowned bought every single child." Ronin explained, her worry for the kids was bleeding into her words.

"Why come to us? It's not like you were hired to rescue them." Aleks criticised.

Zoe gave an angry squeak before scolding her vulpine perch "She has her reasons, quit being a jerk."

Aleks was stunned by Zoe's reaction but stayed silent nonetheless, Ray wanted to skip this awkwardness and pressed on "So you think these kids are part of the Drowned's plan?"

Ronin nodded before elaborating "Adult hostages are one thing but holding kids at gunpoint is a whole different ballgame, I think they mean to use them as a bargaining chip, but for what I don't know."

"How did the Drowned get the money to buy all those kids in the first place? It's not like they're bank robbers." Zoe wondered out loud.

"Well…" Chip dragged.

"You know something?" Ray guessed.

"We've keeping an eye on Phelps arms lately, especially since The Drowned keep targeting them and a few things don't add up." Chip explained.

"Such as?" Aleks queried.

"Phelps has been funnelling money into some sketchy accounts lately, the company has been expanding beyond arms manufacturing and into security services where a lot of former employees are now Drowned cultists plus during the opera house attack all of the major shareholders were kidnapped and killed by The Drowned apart from Eustice Phelps himself." Dale listed.

"That's a bit of a stretch." Zoe hated to admit.

"No, it isn't," Ronin disagreed, her eyes going wide with realisation "at the Opera House Phelps wasn't surprised when the Drowned burst in, it was like he was expecting them."

There was a lull of silence before Ray growled "Eustice Phelps is The Drowned's money…Can we arrest him?"

"Not a chance in hell, that creep has a ring of lawyers around him, we'd need hard proof to bring him in." Dale told.

"I can get it you the evidence." Ronin said firmly.

"Ronin? Are you sure?" Zoe asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing else matters but those kids, I won't let them die." Ronin enforced, the childhood memory of being in Hamada's cage replaying in her head.

"If you do this, you'll never get an assassin job again, your rep won't be worth shit." Ray reminded, hardly believing the swordswoman would forgo her honour and betray a client.

"There's no other way." Ronin told them and herself.

Chip could tell the assassin was being serious and he knew what price she was about to pay, he didn't want her to get gold feet and back out so he offered "If you do this for us we can get your slate wiped clean, all US warrants against you dropped and we'll even give you citizenship."

"…Thank you." Ronin replied, even though she knew deep in her heart that as soon as this operation was finished she would running for her life or dead.

000

Bonnie Hopps was the tough one when it came to parenting, everyone in the family knew her word was law and god help anyone who crosses her. Being the matriarch also meant she was the disciplinarian in the household, she would always be the one to stop allowances, put kits in timeout and of course ground those who broke the rules. But when it came to her family being drunk and causing a ruckus she had to get a little more creative, seeing as the majority of drunk troublemakers were over 21 (There were a few teens who managed to sneak some booze now and then) she couldn't ground or hold their allowance but Bonnie was smart and she got up before dawn organising Judy and Luna's punishment.

Bonnie, Nick and Robyn along with half a dozen of the teenage Hopps kids walked quietly into the living room where Luna and Judy were asleep and sprawled on a sofa each, the room had a pungent smell of alcohol and barf from the bucket on the coffee table (Bonnie had left this out for the two seeing as she didn't want vomit all over the furniture.) "Damn, they stink." Robyn whispered.

"The scent of a vodka witch." Nick half joked.

"Well time for these witches to greet the day," Bonnie gave a rare sly smile before turning to one of her grandsons and saying, "bring in the 'Alarm Clock'."

One of the young bucks tiptoed into the room holding a large cockerel in his paws and placed it on the coffee table, within five seconds of putting the rooster puffed up before crowing ridiculously loudly **"COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!"**

In an instant Judy bloodshot eyes snapped open and locked onto the extremely loud bird, the noise was like a remote signal for her senses to explode with pain; her ears were ringing, the light burned her eyes, her stomach gurgled and the unmistakable jack hammer headache kicked in "Oh goddddddddddd…." Judy groaned, akin to a zombie. Her paws shooting up to cover her ears in a vain attempt to block out the cockerel's cry.

"Jesus Frickin' Christ, shut that bird up!" Luna half moaned, half snarled. The vixen's eyes were clamped shut as not to let the burning sunlight sear her sore eyes but she couldn't do anything to stop the headache she was experiencing; it felt like a tornado that had engulfed a razor blade factory was raging in her brain.

"Mornin' girls." Bonnie laughed loudly over the rooster's continuing crowing.

"Grandma please get that rooster out of here!" Luna pleaded, the pain in her head amplifying with each cry.

"Aw, what's wrong? Didn't you sleep well? Neither did the rest of us because the vodka witches woke everyone up." Bonnie informed.

"Ugh, not again." Judy reacted, the acidy taste of vomit rested on her tongue.

"Robbie, I will give a $1000 to get that bird away from us." Luna begged, her bleary amber eyes looking to her little sister for mercy.

"Sorry Lu, Grandma's house equals Grandma's rules." Robyn smiled smugly.

"Take a good look kiddo, this is why teens don't drink." Nick said to Robyn with a small smile on his face as he recorded the entire thing on his phone.

The rooster finished crowing and began pecking at the cookie crumbs left on the coffee table from last night causing Judy to give a pained whisper "Oh thank god."

"Oh you think you're punishment's over? Not a chance." Bonnie smirked "We're going to try a good ol' fashioned way of dealing with witches; dunking."

"Huh?" Luna sounded.

"Grab em'." Bonnie ordered, suddenly the Hopps teens and Robyn rushed at the two hungover mammals, and each grabbing them by a limb and lifting them off the sofas.

"Whoa, w-what are you guys doing!?" Luna gasped as she was carried out of the living room and towards the front door.

"Put me down!" Judy barked, trying to wriggle free from the paws carrying her, Bonnie opened the front door and out in the front yard was an inflatable play pool filled with cold water, Judy realised what was coming next and muttered "Oh sweet cheese and crackers."

"No, No, No, No!" Luna flapped before she was thrown into the bitingly cold water, she let out a high pitched vulpine squeal as the water soaked through her clothes and fur.

Judy was then thrown in with a scream and she fell head first into water, she emerged a seconds later gasping and shivering. Mother and Daughter hastily clambered out of the play pool to a chorus of laughter from their family while Nick sent the video to everyone on his contact list.

Twenty minutes later Luna was having a much-needed hot shower, her head was still thumping but the warm water was helping. Despite her headache she did smile when remembering her night out with her family and being initiated into the vodka witch coven. As she shampooed her fur her mind drifted to the advice her Mom gave her regarding Alice; that love was worth fighting for, Luna had been so obsessed over the 'Time limit' on her relationship with Alice that she had never thought about other options. Luna was wealthy, she could help Alice set up a life in Zootopia, she knew Alice wanted to escape from her life in the underworld but was afraid being hunted down but Luna knew that she could help bring an end to Alice's endless run, the vixen was even considering cluing in her nana Marian and asking her to use her hacking skills to create Alice a fresh digital identity with no records of her crimes. Luna started to rinse out the shampoo from her fur when a stab of doubt struck her; did Alice even want to be with Luna? Was she willing to leave her life of crime behind to be with a mammal who was still trying to figure herself out? And then there was the big question; did Alice even love Luna? The vixen had ran off after confessing her love for the beautiful bunny, she didn't even now if the feeling was reciprocated. Luna shook off her doubt and focused on something positive instead; she loved Alice and she was filling to fight tooth and nail to keep her in her life.

A couple of hours later Heather Hopps walked into the grounds of the main homestead, she waved at her various relatives who were busying themselves with Carrot Days preparations as she sauntered up to the barn where all the farm vehicles were stored. Now the Carrot Days festival wasn't just about celebrating harvest time and vegetable contests, there was also a tradition of parading classic cars at the county show with the there being various prizes for different car types. And Heather and Stu Hopps had an affinity for classic muscle cars, ever since Heather was a teen she used to tag along with her dad as he went from junkyard to junkyard looking for old cars to restore, then once they bought it they would bring these iconic automobiles back to life. Even after all these years the father and daughter kept the tradition up, Heather walked into the barn and removed the dust cover of their latest project; an emerald green 1969 Dodge Charger.

"Whoa." A voice admired.

Heather turned to see her niece Robyn in the barn's doorway and smiled "She's a beauty, isn't she?"

"How long did you and Grandpa work on this one?" Robyn asked with wonder, walking up to the muscle car running her paw over the hood.

"Just over ten months, found this poor baby at a police auction, she was rusty and all shot up but your Grandpa and I worked our magic on her." Heather commented with pride.

"Sweet." Robyn smiled before going silent.

Heather noticed that her niece's nose was twitching, signalling that she was nervous about something, the farmer wasn't one for awkward silences so she called out "Something on your mind?"

"…Am I that obvious?" Robyn sighed.

"Oh yeah, but luckily for you your Auntie Heather is here to help." Heather assured.

"Ok, this is going to sound odd but do you think we're alike? Like personality wise?" Robyn opened, scratching behind her head awkwardly.

"You mean how we're both tough crass tomboys with muscles?" Heather grinned, holding up her arms and flexing her guns.

"Not just that but you know…shy, especially when it comes to romance." Robyn explained "It's just whenever I see uncle Jacob flirt or kiss you I'm reminded of what I'm like with Hannah."

"I guess we're similar that respect." Heather chuckled slightly "So I'm going to guess this is about your girlfriend, huh?"

"Yeah…" Robyn replied meekly "I know this is a personal question but how long was it before you and Uncle Jacob marked each other?"

Heather's ears went droopy as she admitted in an embarrassed manner "Just over a year."

"Really?" Robyn gasped.

"Yeah, I was so shy when it came to that sort of stuff but Jacob always respected my boundaries, he never forced anything but I started to get paranoid that we'd never mark each other." Heather reminisced "So it was homecoming at my school and I always had a tradition of just wearing jeans and a t shirt to dances but that homecoming I spent all of my savings on a dress, heck I even got Mom to make me a flower crown. I'll never forget how nervous I was when Jacob picked me up in his car, he looked stunned and I was so terrified I ended up marking him while he was driving me to homecoming."

"That's so nice." Robyn smiled.

"So, I'm going to assume you're in the same boat with Hannah?" Heather guessed.

"Yeah but it's not like dressing up will help, Hannah can't even see me." Robyn replied sounding down.

"The dress isn't just for her, you know? It's to give you confidence, I know it gave me some despite feeling nervous as hell." Heather explained.

At that moment Bonnie Hopps came walking into the barn holding a picnic basket while asking "Heather honey, you're heading to the festival now, right? Can you drop off the boys' lunches off at the stall?"

"No problem." Heather replied, taking the picnic basket off her mother "Say Mom, you know that dress you bought Robyn for her sweet sixteen?"

"That was supposed to be a surprise!" Bonnie scolded, looking aghast that the surprise was ruined.

"I know, I know but do you think she could have it a day early? She really needs it." Heather asked before grinning at the bashful hybrid.

Bonnie looked at Robyn and read between the lines and smiled "That won't be a problem, I'll get the girls to make a flower crown real quick too."

000

It had been a quiet night patrol for Spitfire, Roar and The Mage, the three heroes had only stopped one burglary and a mugging and were disappointed that there was no real action for them to contend with so Olivia proposed that they meet up in the Bunker's augmented reality training room the next day to burn off some of the unused energy.

"So what simulation are we going to try?" Kodi asked, wearing his training gear that consisted of a black compression shirt and dark blue shorts.

"How about the burning building one? We could try it on the hardest difficulty." Kion suggested, dressed in his Roar attire.

"Actually, Marian wrote a new program simulating a terror attack at a concert, I've really been wanting to take it for a test run." Olivia geeked out while chewing on a red vine and riding on Kodi's shoulder.

But as the three heroes entered through the automatic doors into the training room they were with a sight that was unexpected, embarrassing and disturbing all in the same instance. Robin senior and Marian were in the middle of the training room, both naked bar the Augmented Reality glasses over their eyes, Marian was straddled atop of Robin sr. her hips moving up and down while she gave loud pleasure filled moans. "No! Dude I did not need to see that!" Kodi barked, covering his eyes.

Olivia jumped off Kodi's shoulder and onto the control panel jumping on the 'End Simulation' button "What the hell guys!?" Olivia hollered down the microphone.

Robin sr. and Marian stopped what they were doing and quickly removed their glasses to see the horrified faces of Olivia, Kion and Kodi.

A few minutes and very quick change into their clothes later, Marian and Robin sr. were stood in the control room wearing an expression of awkwardness and guilt as Oliva told them off "For god's sakes you two are your sixties you should know better than to do it in public."

"Technically we weren't in public and we thought we wouldn't be disturbed." Robin sr. justified, buttoning up his shirt.

"Ugh, this place smells of stank." Kion grimaced, shuddering a little.

"Never mind the smell I need to bleach my eyeballs." Kodi griped before retching.

"Old mammals have sex Kodi, get over it." Marian barbed causing the wolf to dry heave again.

"Yeah in their own homes not a multimillion dollar training room!" Olivia fumed "Why the hell were you banging in here anyway?"

Robin Sr looked down at his feet with embarrassment while Marian sniggered "You know that concert simulation, well one of the first times me and Robin did it was at punk gig and we felt like reliving the experience."

"Oh, I didn't need to know that." Kion muttered, trying his best not to focus on the smell.

Kodi dry heaved again before saying "You know that feeling when you want to throw up but there's nothing in your stomach?"

"So, let me get this straight you used the training room as your little sex play-den, in the middle of the day and you figured you wouldn't get caught?" Olivia asked her voice simmering with her signature Scottish fire.

"Well we didn't get caught the other times." Robin sr. shrugged.

"You've done this before!?" Olivia blasted before the loud ringtone of her phone stopped her from continuing the verbal assault. She answered her phone with an angry "Hello!" there was a pause before she said "Remy? What's wrong?"

The team noticed the mouse's face of frustration morph into fear as she ended the conversation with a shaky voice "…I'll be right there."

"Olivia? What's the matter?" Kion asked, knowing in his gut it was something terrible.

"I-it's Blake, he's in intensive care." Olivia uttered as her body began to tremble.

000

The dress that Bonnie had bought Robyn was indeed beautiful, it was a blue and white summer dress with thin straps that complimented the Hybrid's athletic physique and to top off the radiant look a flower crown of bright and vibrant colours adorned her head.

"This was a bad idea." Robyn worried aloud as she got out of the Dodge Charger Heather had just parked up at the Classic Car area of the Carrot Days festival.

"No, it wasn't and besides you look beautiful." Heather encouraged.

"I look like a dork." Robyn fussed "Can I least lose the crown?"

"You take off that crown I'll whoop your ass from to Zootopia." Heather warned "Now I'm going to fill the entry forms for this beauty, you go and find Hannah, her and her parents came here early."

Robyn took a deep breath and exhaled before saying "Ok, I can do this."

"Good girl." Heather grinned, slapping her niece on the back "Go out there and mark your sweetheart."

Robyn took this as her cue and walked off into the crowd, it was just after midday and the festival was jam packed with mammals, mostly bunnies but there was the odd sheep and pig around but hardly any predators and of course Robyn stuck out like a sore thumb due to being a hybrid. But Robyn wasn't focusing on the crowds or some of the puzzled stares she was getting, the teen was desperately scanning the crowds for any sign of Hannah. She weaved through the crowds and went down the rows of stalls and fair rides searching for her striped belle but wasn't having much luck. Robyn let out a frustrated grunt when she heard a surprised voice say "No way, Robyn Wilde is that you?"

Robyn turned to her left to see an apple stall with a teenage buck bunny manning it, he had white fur with a soot black nose wearing a lilac shirt and a friendly smile. Robyn recognised the face right away and beamed "Warren Loud? Oh my god." Robyn walked over and fist bumped Warren's waiting fist.

"Dude it's been like three years." Warren laughed, glad to see his old friend.

"Four years, I was twelve the last time I saw you." Robyn remembered. Warren and his twenty-five sisters had been neighbours of the Hopps and when Robyn came to visit they would always play together, but after a nasty break up between his parents they moved away from Bunny burrow. "So, what are you doing back at the Loud Farm, visiting your Dad?"

"No, I moved back, we all did. Mom and Dad got back together six months ago." Warren happily informed.

"That's great! I'm so happy for you." Robyn chirped.

"Ok so I gotta' ask, what's with the dress? Did you ditch the whole tomboy look while I was away?" Warren asked, motioning to Robyn's clothes.

"Oh this? Well it's kind of' dumb, I'm dressing up for my girlfriend." Robyn confided.

"You're dating a girl from Bunny burrow?" Warren queried, knowing that the hybrid lived in Zootopia.

"No, I'm dating Hannah, you remember her, right?" Robyn answered a question with another question.

"Wait you and Hannah are a couple, how the heck did that happen?" Warren asked with a smile.

"Well I had a crush, I asked her out, we went on a date, got caught in The Wave, nearly died…you know a cliché high school romance." Robyn jested.

"Whoa, is that true? About the Wave and stuff?" Warren asked, sounding shocked.

"Yeah, we ended up in hospital and Hannah lost her sight." Robyn confirmed.

"Hannah's blind now? Oh my gosh, I'm sorry that happened to you guys." Warren sympathised, his ears going droopy.

"It's ok, we survived and we're happy." Robyn eased her friend's worries.

"Wait…if Hannah can't see why are you dressed up?" Warren wondered.

"Well…it's so I know I look hot." Robyn admitted reluctantly.

"Well don't worry, Hannah's really lucky, you look beautiful." Warren complimented.

About thirty or so metres away Hannah was browsing a honey stall, taking in the scents of all the different kinds of honey but when sniffed again a familiar smell filled her nose; Robyn's mango scented shampoo. She turned around and honed her senses, she detected the well-known shape of her girlfriend among the crowd but was surprised by the density of her clothes; she was wearing a cotton summer dress. But then Hannah sensed the mammal next to her, a buck bunny much shorter than Robyn, she focused her very sensitive hearing and heard a teenage male voice "…you look beautiful." Hannah's expression hardened, that little shit was flirting with her girlfriend and her anger grew tenfold when she heard Robyn chuckle and sensed her playfully push the buck.

Something snapped in the young gunslinger, all the emotions and over protectiveness she had showered Robyn with were for naught and led her to jump to the wrong conclusion; this random buck was flirting with Robyn and she was flirting back.

Hannah let out a small growl before marching over, weaving through the crowd with her cane hand, debating whether or not to smack it across the young buck's head. With her speed and anger coupled Hannah made it over to Robyn and the unknown buck in no time. "Robyn." She said coldly, stopping a few feet away.

"Hannah," Robyn smiled in spite of her jitters "look who I found; you remember Warren Loud from when were kids?"

"No, sorry." Hannah lied with a stony expression, she did remember the bunny that didn't extinguish the anger she was feeling. The striped teen latched onto Hannah's arm and said hastily "We need to somewhere private, now."

"Oh, right." Robyn reacted, figuring there must be an alert for Ceartais, she was already getting dragged away by Hannah when she called out "Catch you later, Warren."

"Uh, see ya'." Warren shrugged, wondering what would cause such a sudden exit.

Hannah detected the large barn where the talent show would be hosted and moved around the back of it for privacy with the hapless Robyn being pulled along. When Hannah was sure they were alone she let go of Robyn who instantly asked "Is everything ok? Did you get a message from the team?"

"Just stay still for a second." Hannah instructed, stepping forward so that her face was inches away from Robyn's.

Robyn thought she was about to get kissed but the fact that Hannah's expression was so fierce was freaking her out "Babe?" she sounded.

Without warning Hannah put her hands-on Robyn's shoulders to hold her in place before running her cheeks across her girlfriend's neck and face, the scent glands in her cheeks leaving her distinct mark on Robyn.

Robyn was breathless, the heat rose in her body with each delicate brush of Hannah's fir on her own, her paw pads were sweating and her heart was racing as the loving act enveloped her. After ten or so seconds Hannah stopped and pulled back leaving a pleasantly paralysed Robyn reeling from the marking she had been desiring. Robyn regained some composure and whispered "Hannah that was…"

"That will show him." Hannah grumbled turning to the directions of the stall, she could still smell Warren all the way from over here.

"Show who?" Robyn asked, slightly stung that Hannah didn't appear affected by the special moment.

"That Warren guy, he was coming on to you." Hannah griped.

"What? Warren wasn't hitting on me, we were just chatting…" Robyn began but went silent when she had realised what had just transpired; Hannah hadn't marked her because of love, she had done it out of jealousy. The warm feeling of romance drained from Robyn's body only to be replaced with twinge in her chest and a lump in her throat.

"So why are you wearing that dress?" Hannah changed the subject, satisfied Warren would get the message now.

"It doesn't matter." Robyn replied with a quivering lip "Listen, I don't feel well I'm going back to the farm."

As Robyn went to walk away the confused Hannah took hold of Robyn's paw "Princess, what's the matter?"

Robyn snatched her paw away and snapped "Don't you 'Princess' me!"

"What the hell's gotten into you?" Hannah parried, getting frustrated.

Robyn could no longer contain her tears, they broke free from her eyes as she grabbed the flower crown her head and threw it Hannah who didn't even attempt to dodge it "You're a fucking jerk!" Robyn gave a screaming cry before running off towards the parking lot leaving an utterly confused and distressed Hannah in her wake.

"Robyn?" Hannah spoke as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong.

It took of Robyn's willpower not to use her powers and bound back to the farm with super high jumps, she just wanted to find Heather and get back to the family farmhouse. The teen didn't want to be seen crying her eyes out so she hid behind the vegetable contest tent until she stopped crying…but that wasn't happening anytime soon. Robyn was sat down the grass with her head buried in her knees, the muffled sound of her weeping was broken by the odd curse word as she replayed the scene over and over in her head; it had started off so beautiful but had crumbled down to something toxic. Her body was trembling, and face was drenched with tears when a tender voice greeted "Robyn?"

Robyn looked up with navy eyes that were puffy from sobbing and saw the concerned face of Stu Hopps "Grandpa…" She sniffed.

"Hey now, what's all these tears for?" Stu asked in a caring voice, sitting down on the grass beside his much taller granddaughter and placing his paw on hers.

"Hannah she…she's…" Robyn tried to explain but started bawling again.

"Ah, troubles of the heart." Stu sighed, he had been through moments like this with his children but he never though he had to do it with his grandchildren.

"I hate her!" Robyn cried.

"No, you don't, that's just your anger talking." Stud dismissed "Now I am not going to pretend to know what you're going though, I'm just an old coot who has no idea what's like to be young these days but can I offer one bit of advice?"

"…I suppose." Robyn continued to weep, leaning her head on her grandfathers.

"You're hurting right now, I'm going to guess this is your first big fight but you got to remember one thing; Love is like a dandelion." Stu told.

"What?" Robyn reacted, tears still falling from her eyes.

"Love is a dandelion." Stu repeated "You see dandelions are some of the most persistent weeds in the world, they grow everywhere be it grass or concrete, you can try and pull it up but the root will still be there, you can put it through the worst weather and it will survive. And that's what love is, you've had a fight and that love's taken a beating but it will grow back in no time."

Robyn smiled despite crying, she took a breath before saying "I don't want to see her right now, I need to cool off."

"Fair enough," Stu nodded as he stood up "I'll drive you back to the farm."

Robyn stood up as well, she was still weeping but less heavy now, while she followed her grandpa to his truck she said, "Thanks Grandpa."

"It's what I'm here for." Stu smiled reassuringly.

000

Olivia looked at slumbering Blake through the window of his room feeling crushed; when she had arrived at the hospital she had been met by the distraught Remy and Emile, she used her influence as the head of Dawson tech. to get him the best room in the ICU as she pestered doctors for news. Blake had suffered a shattered hip and a broken cheek but the majority of the damage had been done to his chest; the muscle-bound rat had suffered a cardiac tamponade wherein blood starts to pool in the sac around the heart compressing the organ and shutting it down, his chest had to be opened to drain the blood and repair the sac. But the beating had also caused his ribs to break and puncture his lungs, once they were repaired Blake's lungs were to weak to function on their own and he was put on a ventilator and into a chemically induced coma. Olivia first emotion was fear, the fear that she was going to lose the mammal she loved but that slowly moved to anger when Remy and Emile revealed that Rattigan was the one who had brutally attacked her boyfriend. But now even the anger had shifted from Rattigan to Basil; Remy had told Olivia that Rattigan was mad about a drug drop gone wrong, the very drug drop intel that Basil had passed onto Luna.

Olivia kicked herself for not figuring Basil would find out Blake's background but that wasn't going to stop her from getting the truth. Olivia texted her dads that Blake was in the ICU and asked them to come to the hospital, the two middle aged mice of course raced over to be with their daughter.

"Olivia!" David gasped, the portly mouse jogging over to the engineer with Basil beside him.

"Daddies." Olivia spoke in an upset tone, torn between hugging them and shouting at them.

Basil looked through the window to the comatose Blake and gasped "Dear god, what happened?"

"Rattigan happened." Olivia spoke icily, she was close to crying but determined to stay focused.

"Rattigan? That bastard did this?" David seethed.

"Olivia we're so sorry, come here." Basil said, opening his arms so Olivia could hug him.

But the hug never came, instead a string of bitter words came from the mouse's mouth "He's only like this because a lying, scheming, cowardly halfwit has been keeping secrets."

"Olivia?" David mumbled, confused by the words.

"I always wondered where you got the intel on the drug drop, but now I know; it was Blake's intel. And you let him, someone that was in Rattigan's crosshairs and you let him snitch." Olivia's voice burned as she pointed the finger at Basil.

Basil froze at being caught out, he wanted to say so much; that he was sorry, that he thought Blake would be ok but instead he compulsively asked, "How did you know?"

Olivia answered by getting out her phone and showing it to her fathers; on the screen was a diagram of spitfire with the button below reading 'Ready to Launch'.

"You…" David gawped.

"That's right, I'm Spitfire." Olivia spoke "And I want to know why you risked my boyfriend's life."

(DUN DUN DUN! Olivia's secret is out and she doesn't give a damn! Will Robyn and Hannah patch things up? And will Kodi ever get over the horror of seeing Robin sr. and Marian doing it!? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Next time on SOC; Basil comes clean, Hannah tries to figure out what she's done wrong and Luna gains an unlikely ally. Please review and c ya soon...)


	46. Promises

(AN\ Hey folks I'm back with an update, sorry for the lateness, between the recent blizzard and a crazy time at work it's been a strugle to get this out. Thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. Also this chapter makes the fic top over 300k words, so thanks for your continuing suppourt. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter)

 **Chapter 45- Promises**

Olivia did not want her conversation with her fathers to be interrupted so she walked with them to the top of the multi storey parking lot connected to the hospital so they could speak without risk of being disturbed. As soon as Olivia walked into the centre of the parking lot she stopped causing her dads to halt too "I can't believe I was so blind, of course you're Spitfire." Basil berated himself.

"Olivia, when did this all start?" David asked, still amazed by the revelation.

Olivia put her index finger to her lips signalling for her dads to remain silent, which they did, she then took a breath before saying "You don't get to ask me about Spitfire, the only thing I want to hear out of your mouths are answers, we clear?"

Basil and David glanced at one another, both of them sharing their guilt and shame, they then looked back at Olivia and nodded.

"Good." Olivia nodded, folding her arms across her chest "First things first; why do you want to bring Rattigan down so badly?"

"Well it's very complicated." David replied awkwardly.

"You need to know the context before we…" Basil began before being cut off.

"Nope, make it simple." Olivia demanded "One sentence answer."

"Olivia it's not that easy, you see…" Basil responded before being interrupted again.

"Padraic Rattigan killed your birth parents." David said, knowing it was better just to tell the truth rather than avoid it.

Basil looked at his husband with a slight gasp while Olivia's expression could only be described as dumbstruck "…No…No you told me Hiram and Cathy died in a car crash, he was a toy maker and she was a seamstress." Olivia uttered, a truth she believed for nearly two decades had now crumbled to a lie.

"We lied to protect you, when they were murdered you were still a toddler, you were too young to know the truth." David said, his tone mournful.

"And when you did get older, we just…we were scared of you being mad at us for lying." Basil admitted.

"But…no….this makes no sense, why would Rattigan kill them? They were normal mammals." Olivia spoke, struggling to comprehend the truth.

"Hiram was a toy maker that part's true but your mother only made dresses as a hobby." David revealed "Her proper title was Professor Cathy Flaversham."

"Professor?" Olivia gawped.

"Cathy was a tenured chemistry professor at Edinburgh University, she was a well-respected scientist who won many awards for her research along with her academic partner; Professor Padraic Rattigan." Basil said, unable to say the mob boss' name without sounding bitter.

"Rattigan was an actual professor?" Olivia asked, even though her head was swirl of emotions.

"He was indeed," David sighed "we considered him a friend once but all that changed."

Olivia shook off her confusion and instead homed in on her anger, her fury helped her focus "What happened? Why did Rattigan kill the Flavershams?" she asked.

David ran a paw through his whiskers, sighed then said "Rattigan was a drug lord, even back then and the appearance of a respected university professor helped him go undetected for years, he went by the codename Napoleon. He'd blackmail failing students into becoming drug mules, he'd had so many dealers among the student body he could sell all over Edinburgh. He would've continued like this if it wasn't for your mother."

"Cathy had found one of her students dead after a heroin OD, after that she started hunting for this mysterious drug lord, it took her nearly a year to finally get video evidence of her own academic partner. I worked as a CSI with Edinburgh police at the time so she passed the evidence onto me and like a fool I gave the evidence to a police captain instead of a crown prosecutor." Basil lamented.

"Rattigan had the cops in his pocket?" Oliva guessed "So the police told Rattigan that Cathy was investigating him and then what?"

Basil's eyes became moist as he struggled to say "Then there was the fire…"

 **TWENTY YEARS AGO…**

"Watch where you're going!" Basil yelled up at a horse who nearly stepped on him. The 31 year old mouse was riding a bicycle down the street of a affluent suburb in the Scottish capital towards his home he shared with his beloved husband, it had been a busy day at the police station's lab but he didn't mind a big workload, he just saw cases as puzzles to solve even though the majority of them were ridiculously simple but today was stressful for a different reason. His friend and neighbour Cathy Flaversham had finally cracked the case that the Edinburgh Police Force had failed to solve; the identity of the elusive drug lord Napoleon. And to add salt to the wound it was no other than Padraic Rattigan, a Rat that Basil considered a friend and intellectual equal. Part of Basil felt a tad guilty handing over the DVD of Napoleon/Rattigan's meeting with his lieutenants to the police captain in command of the station, but he knew Rattigan had to answer for his crimes, too many mammals had died because of him. Basil wished he could to David about this but Cathy insisted on secrecy, he intended to call next door to Cathy and Hiram's home and update her on what was happening. But as he turned the corner onto the rodent sized street of houses he saw a worrying sight that made him nearly fall of his bike.

A plume of smoke rose from a house halfway down the street with startled neighbours outside watching on as the house burned, Basil raced down the street on his bike and saw his worst fears confirmed; the Flaversham house was ablaze.

Basil got off his bike and looked around the crowd for any sign of the Flavershams but they were nowhere to be seen, the front door was ajar with smoke billowing out of it. "Did anyone come out of the house!?" He asked aloud and in a panic.

"No, I'm on the phone to the fire service now." A kangaroo rat answered, pressing her mobile phone to her ear.

Basil got off his bike and gritted his teeth "Bloody hell." He then ran into the house with shouts of 'Don't go in there' and 'Are you insane?' following him.

Basil was coughing the instant he made it into the front hall of the burning house, he wafted the smoke out of his face and through haze he could see a body strewn on the staircase. Basil rushed over and nearly let out a scream of grief; it was Hiram, his lifeless eyes wide open with terror, his face bleeding from trauma most likely caused by a fist but Basil felt queasy when he saw the cause of death. The toymaker's neck was twisted in an unnatural way, it looked like the mouse put up a fight but his opponent was too strong and snapped his neck like a toothpick. Basil was dragged out of his sadness and shock by the unmistakeable cry of child, it was coming from upstairs "Olivia!" Basil gasped before coughing again, the CSI ran up the stairs as the flames danced up the walls and the furniture. He followed the loud crying down the flaming hallway to the open door of Olivia's nursery, he looked in the room and uttered "No…"

Olivia Flaversham, two years old was bawling her eyes out as she clutched onto the bleeding form of her mother, Cathy, who was breathing very slowly. "Cathy!" Basil yelled, running over and crouching at the dying chemist's side "Hold on I'm going to get you two out of here."

"Rattigan…h-he killed Hiram…" Cathy said in a weak voice that was barely audible over Olivia's crying, her paw clutched to one of the four stab wounds in her abdomen.

"Don't speak, you need to save your strength," Basil said with haste, picking up Olivia before trying to lift Cathy as well "we need get you to an ambulance!"

Basil tried to lift Cathy but she let out a scream of pain as Basil tried to lift her, he couldn't carry them both. Cathy forced herself out of Basil's grip and shouted, "Get Olivia out of here, then c-come back for me!"

"I can't leave you here!" Basil shouted back with tears in his eyes.

"You're not, you're going to come back for me…then we'll make Rattigan pay, together." Cathy forced, her fright still clear in her weakened voice.

"Promise?" Basil responded uneasily.

"Promise." Cathy hissed with pain "Now go!"

Basil nodded and ran out of the room with Olivia in his arms, the toddler shrieking "Mummy!" with her paws outstretched as she was torn away from her mother.

"It's ok Olivia, you'll see her in a minute." Basil sobbed as he raced down the staircase, through the hallway and out into the street. The ambulance and fire crew had arrived, he rushed over to a waiting paramedic and passed Olivia to them "Her Mum is still inside, I'm going back in!" Basil told.

"Whoa, easy there…" A firefighter began but then…

BOOM! The upper part of the house exploded, with the windows shattering and massive flames erupting through them, Basil looked up at one of the windows that erupted with flame, it was the nursery "CATHY!" Basil screamed with anguish, the mouse was held back by the firefighters as he tried to run back into the house, even though he knew it was in vain; Cathy was already dead.

 **NOW…**

"You…you saved me." Olivia whispered, her cheeks wet with tears.

"No, I failed you." Basil wept, holding onto to David's paw for comfort "I wasn't strong enough, I couldn't carry you and your mother at the same time, she died because of me."

"You're wrong, she died because of Rattigan." Olivia affirmed, taking a few steps towards her Dads and hugging them both "You took me in and raised with all the love a mammal could ever want, you two are my parents and that will never change."

"We love you so much." David spoke, savouring the hug.

"I love you guys too," Olivia replied "but now it's my turn to deal with Rattigan."

Olivia pulled back from the hug before getting her phone and quickly swiping a few keys, Basil wiped away some tears "You and team ceartais are going to bring him to justice." He assumed.

"No," Olivia replied flatly, stuffing her photo into the pocket of her skirt "I'm going to do this on my own."

"But surely the rest of the team will be able to help, actually we need to talk about this whole Spitfire business." David commented.

"We don't need to talk about anything," Olivia said in a rather cold voice, the sound of small rocket engines could be heard approaching "I'm going to do what needs to be done."

"What are you talking about?" Basil asked in a wary voice, his eyes still moist from crying.

Suddenly the Spitfire mech streaked across the sky and circled the parking lot before landing with a loud thud a couple of feet behind Olivia, the mech automatically opened it's chest cavity and crouched down opening it's huge hand. As Olivia climbed onto the hand David called out "Olivia? What are you going to do?"

The mech lifted Olivia up to the chest cavity and she clambered on into the cockpit, she grabbed the spare neural link helmet hanging on the edge of the seat and slipped it on. She looked down at her amazed yet scared parents and declared "Rattigan killed my birth parents, killed countless mammals in this city and now Blake is in a coma because of him; So I am going to find and kill that bastard."

"No, Olivia, don't do this!" Basil hollered.

"You're upset right now, you're not thinking clearly." David tried to readon.

"I love you." Olivia whispered, before closing the cockpit and launching her mech into the sky leaving her fathers terrified that she was about to something she'd regret for the rest of her days.

000

Hannah Savage felt lost, she was sat at a table in the kitchen of Heather Hopps' home holding onto the flower crown that Robyn had thrown at her earlier. The striped hybrid replayed the moment over and over in her head and she couldn't figure out why her girlfriend had got so upset. The blind teen's confusion was only matched by her frustration, she was convinced Robyn was flirting with Warren and that made her subconsciously bare her fangs with anger.

Hannah was pulled from her thoughts by a cheer of "Woo-hoo! First prize y'all!", Heahter strolled into the kitchen holding the trophy for 'Best car restoration', the yoked doe was beaming with a prideful smile with Skye and Jack beside her.

"There you are." Jack said, upon seeing his daughter at the table "We looked all over the festival for you."

"Oh don't be so hard on her Jack," Heather said with a wink "I've gotta' feeling this young lady had a good time."

"What's with the wink?" Jack asked, totally oblivious.

Skye read between the lines and smiled at her daughter "So by any chance did you meet up with Robyn?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Hannah huffed, tossing the flower crown on the table.

There was a brief pause until Skye mumbled "Oh boy." Figuring that the whole 'Marking thing' didn't go well.

Heather also guessed the same thing, she gave an awkward smile and suggested "Um, Jack, why don't you head to the den, Jacob's watching the game in there."

"Am I missing something?" Jack asked, arching an eyebrow.

Skye gave a tired sigh "Honey I love you but you can be dumb so I'll spell it out; Go to the den while we have some girl talk." The arctic vixen motioning towards the direction of the den.

"Oh, um, right." Jack replied before walking out of the kitchen.

Skye turned to Heather and asked "Mind if I grab a beer?" she had the feeling she'd need one with this conversation.

"Sure, grab me one too." Heather answered, parking herself in a chair at the table "So what happened Hannah?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Hannah pouted, crossing her arms.

"That's not going to fly, come on, talk to us and we might be able to help." Skye insisted, tossing Heather a can of beer while putting a can in front of Hannah.

"You want me to drink a beer?" Hannah asked with confusion, Heather was equally confused to how Hannah knew the beer can was in front of her.

"Just one and don't tell your father." Skye clarified "Trust me it'll help."

Hannah reached out and opened the can and took a sip "Ugh, how can you drink this?" she grimaced.

"Just take some swigs and tell us what's going on." Heather instructed before drinking from her own can.

"I caught Robyn flirting with some guy." Hannah blurted out.

"What?" Heather and Skye reacted in unison, both sounding unconvinced.

"I found it her at the festival and she getting hit on by this guy named Warren and she was giggling along." Hannah explained.

"Ok…so what happened next?" Heather probed, figuring this Warren boy must be Warren Loud from a neighbouring farm.

"I go over and I tell Robyn I need to talk to her, I took her somewhere secluded and I marked her then she just went crazy." Hannah recalled, her tone stressed.

Skye's expression was already showing her frustration, she had figured out what happened, but she wanted to be sure "So what exact words did you say to Robyn when you marked her?"

"Huh, why does that matter?" Hannah asked back.

"Just tell us." Skye responded.

"Um, I think it was something like 'That'll show him' and something about Warren flirting with her." Hannah revealed, unsure why this was an important.

Skye and Heather both shared a look of disappointment before Heather asked "So what happened next?"

"She said she wasn't feeling well and wanted to go back to Stu and Bonnie's but I could tell she was lying, I tried to ask her about it and she totally flipped, she threw this flower crown at me and called me a fucking jerk." Hannah told, her frustration returning.

Skye rolled her eyes then procced to down the remainder of her beer, she then crushed the empty can and said bluntly "How can someone as smart as you be so damn dense?"

"What?" Hannah reacted.

"I can tell you for certain that Robyn was not flirting with Warren." Heather stated.

"How would you know?" Hannah asked defensively.

"Because she's been driving herself crazy about being marked by you." Heather unveiled.

"Huh? No, I mean I marked her so why is she mad?" Hannah asked, flummoxed by the reveal.

"Well maybe it has something to do with Robyn wanting her first marking to be a special and romantic moment and not out of petty jealousy." Skye said without restraint.

"…That's…" Hannah was struggling to respond, the realisation of what she done was hitting her hard.

"For Pete's sake Robyn wore a dress and a flower crown for the occasion, she was so nervous but she wanted that first mark to be a moment she'd never forget." Heather reinforced, swigging her beer.

"…Oh no." Hannah mumbled, realising that she had messed up big time.

"Finally, the penny drops." Skye said, shaking her head.

Hannah talk a huge glug of her beer before asking in a desperate manner "What do I do? How do I fix this?"

"I'd say start working on your apology." Skye answered.

"And I'll ring Judy and see what the situation's like on her end, if Robyn's temper is flaring there's no point talking to her until she's calmed down." Heather sighed, getting her phone out.

Hannah took another swig of her beer before telling herself "You're so stupid, Hannah."

000

It was dusk over Bunnyburrow now but the Carrot Days festival was still in full swing, the contests had ended for the day but the carnival rides were still running and the traditional Carrot Days dance was about to start. And sat under a tree was a tired but content Nick Wilde, the mayor looked at the happy festival goers with a smile on his face. It had been a long day for the Zootopia mayor, straight after the 'Vodka Witch Dunking' Nick went to the festival to meet with Sharla to sort out all the legal papers that needed signing to ensure trade between Zootopia and Bunnyburrow, after that he joined the Bunnyburrow mayor as judge for some contests before doing a meet and greet with some local farmers who supplied Zootopia with fruit and vegetables. So now with his first moment of respite he wanted to chill under a tree.

"Hey Slick." A familiar voice spoke to him.

Nick turned to see his wife walking towards him "How's the hangover Carrots?" he smiled.

"Subsiding, thank God." Judy grunted, stepping between Nick's legs before sitting down and leaning into her dumb fox's embrace.

"I got flashbacks to when I first met the Vodka Witch last night." Nick chuckled before kissing Judy atop of her head.

"Ugh, I can't even remember what happened last night let alone way back then." Judy replied, feeling comfortable in Nick's arms.

"And now you've corrupted our sweet baby girl too, tsk, tsk." Nick tutted in jest.

"Well hopefully both me and Luna will learn our lesson." Judy willed.

"I gotta' say though when your drunk you do get frisky." Nick grinned.

Judy gave a small laugh and asked "What did I do?"

"You whispered something about me knotting you." Nick answered.

"Sounds like me." Judy chuckled "But I think I'm going to stick to soda for the remainder of this trip."

"Wise choice." Nick nodded "I don't think Robyn wants a pair of Vodka Witches at her birthday party tomorrow."

Judy nuzzled next to Nick and smiled warmly "I can't believe Robyn's sixteen tomorrow."

"It'll feel weird not going to see the boys' grave tomorrow, that'll be the first time ever." Nick sighed, it was a tradition for the family to go to the grave of Robyn's littermates on their birthday.

"They'll understand." Judy assured, stroking the glum face of her husband "Have the boys been on your mind? You've seemed kinda' down since we got on the train."

"Well…I've actually been thinking about my folks." Nick admitted.

"You miss them, don't you?" Judy gave a sad smile.

"Yeah…despite everything they've done I miss them." Nick confided "I still want to shout and scream at them but this trip hasn't been the same without them."

"I get it, I miss Robin and Marian too." Judy revealed.

"Really?" Nick asked, a little surprised.

"Even though I punched your Mom in the nose and still owe Robin a sucker punch, yeah, I really miss them." Judy confirmed "Maybe we were a little cruel barring them for Robyn's birthday?"

"No, we made our choice just as they made theirs." Nick stood his ground "If they had been here we just would've ended up at each other's throats."

"Probably," Judy shrugged "but maybe when we get back we can try and meet up?"

"I guess, but the girls have to be there, they'll keep us in check." Nick replied, pulling Judy a little closer.

There was a peaceful silence between the two for a couple of minutes, both of them were close to drifting off to sleep but the annoying ring of Judy's smartphone ruined the moment. Judy let out an annoyed grumble while retrieving her phone from her pocket, she saw Heather's name on the screen and quickly answered it "Hey Heather…huh? What do you mean fight? Oh sweet cheese and crackers."

000

It was almost midnight now and Robyn was sat atop of her bed in the guest room she was sharing with Luna, staring at her dress her grandma Bonnie had bought her on hanger hooked to the door. She had been in this bedroom for hours, crying on and off and muttering to herself about Hannah being a jerk. Of course, Luna and the rest of her family had tried to get her to open up about what happened but Robyn was keeping her cards close to her chest, she wanted to be alone and vent. The ginger hybrid didn't even go downstairs for dinner, she had no appetite, all she could thing about was that moment Hannah broke her heart. Robyn never understood that phrase but now she did, it actually felt painful in her chest when thought about Hannah. And of course, those thoughts would spiral _Why did she think I was flirting with Warren? Does she think I'll cheat on her? When did she get so possessive? I'm not her property! I hate her! No I don't I love her and she loves me…I think. Oh god what if she hates me too?! What if we break up!? I don't want to break up…No, she messed up, why the hell should I feel guilty?_

These thoughts were halted by a soft knocking at the door, Robyn looked at the door and croaked "Yeah?"

The door opened slightly and Luna popped her head in "Hey Robbie, Grandma made you some camomile tea to help you sleep, do you want me to bring it in?" The vixen asked softly.

"Sure." Robyn nodded, sleep was a good idea and this tea helped drift off quicker it was most welcome.

Luna opened the door fully to reveal a very jittery looking Hannah, with a mug of tea in one paw and her cane in the other "Hi." She said meekly as walked into the room

Robyn shot up from the bed with her face turning sour as she snarled "What the hell, Lu?"

"You wouldn't have let her in I we told the truth." Luna quickly explained "Now you guys need to sort this mess out, I'll give you some privacy." Then with swiftness she left the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Even though Hannah couldn't see Robyn's face she guessed it was giving a pissed off expression, she set down the tea on a bedside table and rested her cane against the wall, Hannah then rallied herself to open up the conversation "So I'm guessing you're still mad with me?"

"What gave it away?" Robyn simmered.

"You've got every right to be mad at me, I did something horrible." Hannah owned up.

"Really? Do you even know what you did? Because earlier you seemed clueless!" Robyn accused.

"I ruined our first marking, I screwed it up by acting like a complete idiot." Hannah answered, feeling even more guilty when she smelt the salt of Robyn's tears and sensed her trembling.

"I wanted…I wanted it to be special, I've never been marked before and I wanted ours to be special." Robyn steadied herself, trying her best not to cry "Instead you just did it as a 'Fuck you' to Warren!"

"I'm sorry, I really am!" Hannah spoke, her aqua blue eyes close to tears.

"Why the hell did you think I was flirting with Warren in the first place?" Robyn asked, finding it harder and harder not to cry.

"I don't know I sensed you next to him and I heard him say 'You're beautiful' and then you giggled and shoved him." Hannah babbled.

"I was telling him about you, I was telling him I was wearing that dress and crown because of you, he was complimenting me and you jump to that damn conclusion!" Robyn seethed.

"I panicked, ok?" Hannah gave an excuse.

"Panic? Panicked about what? Are you scared I'm going to cheat on you?" Robyn asked thrice.

"I…" Hannah began to lie but thought better of it "You know what? You're right I am scared of that."

"But why? Have I ever flirted with a guy or girl in front of you? No! So where is this coming from?" Robyn argued.

"Because I'm terrified of losing you!" Hannah screamed, unable to restrain her tears any longer.

"…What?" Robyn uttered, taken aback by the answer.

Hannah's bottom lip quivered for a moment then she spoke "I've lost so much…my sight, my friends at St. Zoo High, my dance team…sometimes I feel so helpless, I try to keep positive but this feeling just lingers."

"Hannah…" Robyn said without any venom.

"You…You've have been the one thing that's kept me going, from that night the Wave came, through all my operations, my new school you were always there…even when we were kids, you'd always be there to save me and on that morning when you told me that you had a crush on me I felt like I walking on air." Hannah wept, as she shared her feelings without restraint "You've always been my hero Robyn and I fell in love with you long before we started dating…and I can't help but be scared that I'll lose you, but the way things are going I'm pushing you away."

Suddenly Hannah felt a pair of arms around her, Robyn was hugging Hannah with all the heart she could muster "I'm not going anywhere." Robyn cried, but not with angry or sad tears, these were tears of love.

"Robyn?" Hannah whimpered, a little shocked by the hug.

"You're stuck with me whether you like it or not babe, so you get stupid idea that I'd leave you out of you head, you hear me?" Robyn joked through her tears.

"I'm so sorry!" Hannah bawled, crying into Robyn's shoulder.

"It's ok, it's ok." Robyn soothed "I'm sorry I got so angry."

"You had every right, I was an absolute bitch!" Hannah berated herself while crying.

"Hey, you are a lot of things; you are beautiful, you are smart, you are the best girlfriend a mammal could ever want." Robyn told, the fur under eyes soaked from tears "But you are not a bitch."

Hannah lifted her head out of Robyn's shoulder and said "I love you."

"I love you too." Robyn replied, glad the ache in her chest was gone, she reached up to Hannah's face and wiped her tears before saying "Listen, you know I'm crap at making the first move but just stay still while I give this a try."

Robyn then took hold of Hannah's paws causing the striped teen to mumble "Princess?"

"Ssshhhh." Robyn hushed gently, before leaning and softly gliding her cheeks across Hannah's, the unmistakable aroma of Robyn's scent being imprinted on Hannah, Robyn then moved onto the next cheek and repeated the action leaving delicate kisses in between strokes. Robyn eventually stopped and asked in a very shy voice "So how did I do?"

Hannah's heart was beating so fast, the scent of the girl she loved was all over and making her head swim, her long beautiful tail was wagging like crazy, she felt weak at the knees and a little giddy as she answered breathlessly "That was perfect." Before leaning in herself and caressing her cheeks across Robyn's making sure to treasure this moment and promising herself never to hurt Robyn in such a stupid way again.

000

"Are you sure the Dawsons aren't overreacting?" Kodi asked with scepticism.

"No they seemed positive about what Olivia said." Marian answered in a worried voice.

It was Sunday afternoon and Team Ceartais had heard nothing from Olivia since she rushed out of the training room the day previous to go to the hospital and see her severely injured boyfriend. Marian was getting anxious after Olivia hadn't answered any of her calls so she tried contacting Basil and David, who were beside themselves with worry. The Dawsons told Marian everything including the very concerning detail that Olivia stated she was going to kill Rattigan. Marian checked the bunker's cctv feed from her laptop at home and found Olivia typing away like crazy at the main terminal in the observation deck with dozens of paper based files scattered all around her, leaving Marian to conclude that she was looking for all of Rattigans known hangouts. The old vixen knew that Olivia needed to be stopped from making such a dire choice but she also knew that the mouse was stubborn and wouldn't be easily swayed so she called Kion and Kodi to join her and Robin senior in trying to change Olivia's mind. The four predators were now in the elevator descending into the bunker with each of them worried about what was going to happen next.

"This is so messed up." Kion said, shaking his head "What are we going to do if she won't listen?"

"It won't come to that." Robin sr. dismissed.

"But what if she doesn't?" Kion pressed with a stressed voice.

"Then we'll have to stop her by force." Marian answered bluntly.

"Force? She's our friend, we can't just grab her and lock her up." Kodi reacted.

"It's better than her flying out of here and killing Rattigan." Robin sr. countered.

"Even if that wanker Rattigan deserves to die I'm not going to let Olivia ruin her life over this." Marian stated just as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened and they were surprised to find Olivia, dressed in her jumpsuit, standing on the hood of the parked up Bella; she was waiting for them.

All four of the elevator's occupants stepped out into the wide open space of the bunker, with each mammal feeling increasingly worried as they laid eyes upon the intimidating mouse "Hey Olivia, um, how are you doing?" Kodi asked nervously.

"Not that good, the last couple of days have been a bit crap." Olivia answered with a straight face "But then again, you four seem to already know how I'm doing."

"About Blake, we're so sorry Olivia but we spoke to your Dads and the doctors say he'll pull through." Robin sr. spoke gently.

"So I'm going to guess my Daddies explained about Rattigan as well?" Olivia asked, her voice was calm but her eyes were fiery.

"They did and they told us what you plan to do to Rattigan…you know why we're here." Marian revealed, her eyes darting around the bunker for any sign of the Spitfire mech but she couldn't find anything.

"You want to stop me." Olivia answered with a sigh "You're all good friends, I know you're trying to protect me but enough is enough; Rattigan has to die."

"No, no he doesn't." Kion babbled "You know deep down this is wrong, Rattigan may have killed your biological parents but an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind."

"You're quoting Ghandi now?" Olivia tutted "But this isn't just an eye for an eye, this is an eye for the hundreds of bodies Rattigan's left in his wake."

"Olivia please don't do this, don't make us stop you." Kodi begged.

"I'm sorry." Olivia whispered before snapping her fingers; suddenly a tranq dart whistled through the air puncturing Kion in the neck, the big feline only managed half a snarl before collapsing to the floor. Kodi bolted at Olivia hoping to subdue her before she got into her mech but was tackled to the ground by said mech that had leapt at him from the celling while Marian and Robin sr. were both being held down by another of Olivia's spare mechs; all three canines struggling the immensive strength of the battle robots.

"I tracked you coming in and listened in on your little conversation in the elevator; I knew you guys might try this so you gave me no choice but to stop you." Olivia explained, her main mech land close to Bella and extended it's hand so the engineer could climb in.

"Olivia let us go!" Marian barked.

"Don't worry the mechs will let go of you once I leave here," Olivia promised "but I've locked you out of the computers and putting the bunker on quarantine mode."

"What the hell is quarantine mode?" Kodi asked, trying his best to wriggle free but failing.

"The bunker exits cannot be opened from the inside only the outside, don't worry this won't take long, I'll let you out as soon as I find Rattigan." Olivia answered, walking onto Spitfire's hand.

"Don't do this kid! There's no way back from this!" Robin sr. yelled.

"You're probably right but I've got to do this." Olivia said coldly as she got into the cockpit and the chest cavity closed. Spitfire then launched up into the air and flew towards the vehicle entrance, the sound of the door opening and closing cementing fear in Kodi, Marian and Robin sr.'s guts.

As promised the mechs let them go and Robin sr. dashed straight over to the unconscious Kion to check if he was ok, while Marian just hissed "Shit, shit, shit! We're screwed, I helped design the quarantine protocol, it's impossible for us to get out."

"Hence why she only knocked out Kion, he could smash his way out." Robin sr. grimaced, crouched next to the fallen lion.

Kodi quickly got his phone out and opened his contact page triggering Marian to ask "Who're calling?"

"Someone who can stop Olivia." Kodi answered, putting the phone to his ear and praying that this plan would work.

000

"Alright you two, smile for the camera." Judy gushed, holding up her phone and taking a picture of Robyn and Hannah with their arms snaked around one another. The cute couple were both wearing dresses and had spent most of the day being lovey dovely after their reconciliation last night.

Today of course was Robyn's birthday and the sixteen-year-old had been the centre of attention from the moment she woke up that morning; Bonnie had rustled up a mountain of blueberry pancakes that everyone gorge on although Judy especially looked like she was ready to burst after being fed stack after stack, Bonnie Hopps was definitely a feeder. After laughing at her mom's near bursting incident Robyn was showered with gifts from her huge family; she was already wearing the dress her grandparents gave her, Nick and Judy had handed her a certificate for ten driving lessons, Jack and Skye got her a box set of the greatest kung fu movies ever, Luna handed her baby sister a brand new state of the art Carrot Iphone but among all these presents there was one she was treasuring dearly even if it was on the cheesy side. Hannah had handed her a gift bag from a jewellery store, inside was a medium sized blue felt box, Robyn opened it up and found a silver tiara encrusted with small rubies. It was a tiara fit for a princess and even though tiaras were usually worn by little kids at princess parties Robyn had no hesitation about wearing it.

The rest of the day flew by with visits from relatives and the Louds from the neighbouring farm, Hannah found Warren and apologised deeply for her rudeness the day before to which he shrugged and smiled "Don't worry about it." Like all parties in the Hopps clan there were two certainties; copious amounts of food and dancing.

Judy had taken a picture of Robyn and Hannah while they were dancing and was beaming when she saw the cute picture on her phone "Oh my stars, you two are so adorable."

"Mom you've said that about fifteen times today." Robyn chuckled as she continued to dance with her love among all the other bunnies dancing in the Hopps' back yard.

"Doesn't mean it's not true." Judy grinned before walking back over to one of the tables where Bonnie and Luna were chatting.

"…You can't be serious." Luna laughed with her grandma.

"I swear it's true and I betcha' it'll happen." Bonnie chortled.

"What are you two laughing about?" Judy enquired, sitting beside Luna.

"Grandma's got this crazy theory that it's legal for sixteen year olds to marry in this county." Luna giggled.

"No, she's right, I've been to a couple of teen weddings." Judy confirmed.

"See, I told you." Bonnie bragged.

"That doesn't mean you'll be hosting one in the next year." Luna shook her head with disbelief.

"I'm sorry, who are we talking about?" Judy asked, taking a sip of soda.

"Who do you think?" Bonnie grinned while nodding at Robyn and Hannah.

Judy spat out her drink with shock before gasping "What!?"

"Oh come on Judy, you know I'm always right when guessing who's getting married next." Bonnie smirked.

"Don't be ridiculous," Judy waved off "Robyn and Hannah are still in high school, if they do get married it'll probably be after college."

"If you say so but remember I'm always right." Bonnie smiled smugly before rising from her seat "Scuse' me a sec, got to check that Stu isn't getting Nick and Jack drunk again."

As Bonnie walked away Luna leaned towards Judy and whispered "So how accurate is she?"

"I hate to admit it but she's never been wrong." Judy commented before looking at Robyn and Hannah and shaking her head "But there's no way she's right this time."

"Yeah, there's no way." Luna agreed before changing the subject "Hey I didn't say it yesterday because things were crazy but thanks for the advice my great all mighty vodka witch."

"Is it ok if I don't remember the advice I gave you?" Judy asked awkwardly.

"You said you wouldn't remember," Luna smiled "but it's what I needed to hear and I've made a decision."

"Oh?" Judy sounded, tilting her head slightly.

"When we get back to Zootopia I'm going to ask Alice if she wants to be a proper committed relationship with me." Luna explained with a hopeful voice "And then I'm going to come out to everyone, I'm still not sure what I am but I know I love Alice."

"Sweetie." Judy grinned from ear to ear, her foot thumping with glee.

"And if that goes well I want you to meet Alice properly, you, Dad and Robbie." Luna's smile faded slightly as she looked at her loved up sister, the ginger hybrid was happy now but it was daunting to think how'd she react to her sister being in a relationship with her arch enemy.

Judy surprised Luna with a hug and chirped "I'm so happy for you."

Luna hugged Judy back and smiled "Thanks Mom."

The heart warming moment was ruined by the vibration of Luna's phone on the table, the vixen looked at it and saw a picture of Kodi grinning on the screen with the words 'Kodi calling' below the picture. She picked it up and answered "Hello?"

" **Luna! You need to get back to the city like right now!"** Kodi's voice exploded over the phone.

"Kodi what's wrong? Is it the Drowned?" Luna asked in a tense manner, Judy overheard this and her expression hardened.

" **Look Olivia's gone loca, she's trapped us in the bunker and she's off to kill Rattigan!"** Kodi explained at break neck speed.

"Whoa, slow down." Luna reacted "Start from the top."

Kodi did explain everything, very quickly and Luna was already trying to formulate a plan when she hung up the call "I've got to go back, I can't let her do this." She said to her mother who had eavesdropped on the entire conversation.

"I'll tell the girls, you go pack." Judy replied.

"No, let Robbie enjoy her birthday, I've got to do this on my own, I'm the only one who can get through to her anyway." Luna stressed, getting up from the table "But how the hell am I going to get back to Zootopia anyway? There's no train until the morning."

"Leave it to me, I'll get you a ride." Judy said in a sure voice before dashing off.

As Luna watched her mom run off towards her siblings the archer's mind burned with a theory; there was no sure way Olivia knew where Rattigan was, she only found his known hangouts in the archives so she would likely check every single one and cause carnage as she went. If she only had a way to find Rattigan and get him out of harms way before Olivia did something stupid and then it her. Luna grabbed her phone and selected the number of the one mammal she knew had links to the underworld, she placed the phone to her ear and waited as the phone rang.

A few seconds later the call was answered " _Bonsoir."_

"Alice, I really need your help." Luna pleaded, putting her faith in the girl she loved.

(AN\ DUN DUN DUN! Will Olivia get to Rattigan? Will Alice be able to help Luna? And will the others escape the Bunker? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Next time on SOC; Ronin and Andraste team up, Jasiri is thrown into this crazy situation and Olivia is faced with the killer of the Flavershams. Please Review and C YA SOON...)


	47. Monsters

(AN/ HEY FOLKS! Quick update because I'm on break at work, thanks for all your support as always, so without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 46- Monsters**

Alice had stayed in the Camelot hangar overnight, going over every scrap of intel Chip and Dale had uncovered, and forming a very basic plan with Ray. The word 'Basic' was actually more akin to desperate and most likely, fruitless; Wait for Phelps to open a contract and get close enough to him to plant a surveillance app on his phone. But seeing as Alice was already in a contract to protect team Ceartais in protest to Phelps' kill/capture contract, the likelihood of her being hired by Phelps again was incredibly slim.

Alice had spent most of Sunday cleaning and maintain her weapons and signing legal protection documents given to her by Chip and Dale. She had signed the papers, ensuring her US citizenship and a clean slate in return for helping bring down The Drowned but she knew that it was pointless exercise. Alice had already accepted that she would never get to enjoy her freedom. It was only a matter of time before the Yakuza came to Zootopia to hunt her down using anyone close to her as leverage. Alice had been imagining nightmare scenarios where Luna, Jasiri and Kion were being tortured and killed because of her, the very thought made her sick to her stomach. There was no way she'd let this come to pass even if it broke her heart.

It was early evening and Alice was working out before she'd head out to The Burst Pipe for any updates on Phelps or Yakuza activity. The bunny was doing one arm pull ups in the corner of the Camelot hangar where a few weight and exercise machines were situated when Zoe Nightfall glided over and perched herself on the pull up bar "How's it hanging Alice?" the fruit bat grinned.

Alice rolled her eyes as she continued her pull ups, "Do all Americans love puns or is just you?" she grunted.

"I think it's just me." Zoe smiled, nibbling on a strawberry in her paw "So how does it feel working for the good guys?"

"I've worked with Camelot before." Alice reminded.

"Yeah but that's when we wanted you to kill someone. This time we're rescuing kids and afterwards you'll be a regular citizen, aren't you excited?" Zoe asked, still feasting on the strawberry.

A flicker of sadness shone through Alice's golden eyes, the rabbit dropped down from the bar and whispered "I wish I could be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoe questioned.

"I'll have to leave America once this mission is done," Alice told "it seems my past has caught up with me."

"What? But we're giving you a fresh start, the US government is absolving all your crimes." Zoe fretted.

"It's not the government I'm worried about…you know what I had to do to escape Japan? You've read my file?" Alice asked back, not wanting to speak about her last days with her master Oni.

"…Oh my god, the Yakuza know you're here?" Zoe quietly gasped.

"Yes, when I killed Hamada there was a laptop streaming everything back to Japan, they'll be sending their most skilled assassins to end me." Alice said, the kanji brand between her shoulders throbbing slightly.

"But you can beat them right?" Zoe asked, swooping down from the pull up bar and landing on a table in front of Alice.

Alice let a small laugh and shook her head "I'd be the luckiest rabbit on the planet if I survived an encounter with them but that's not what I'm worried about."

Zoe took a shot in the dark and guessed "You're worried about mammals close to you getting hurt?"

"Yes…usually I don't make connections when I arrive somewhere new but this time…ugh, I was stupid. I've becoming close friends with my landlady and her boyfriend and then there's…" Alice was struggling to speak, the more she thought about Luna the more her heart ached.

Zoe read Alice's expression and concluded "You've found someone?"

"I have and it's killing me that I'm going to have to leave her." Alice admitted, her dull claws digging into her palms "I love her so much."

"But there's got to be a way!" Zoe exclaimed "What's her name? Maybe we can protect her."

"It's Andraste." Alice confided.

Zoe's eyes went wide as she squeaked "Andraste?! But's she's a…and you are…oh damn now it makes sense why Aleks doesn't like you."

"Yeah…I still feel terrible about that." Alice sighed.

"I don't know if I should feel angry or glad, on one hand you wrecked Aleks and Luna's relationship but on the other hand I'm now dating Aleks." Zoe laughed nervously.

"You and Rojek? You make a cute couple." Alice smiled sadly.

Zoe couldn't help but smile at these words, even though her feelings were conflicted she said "Listen you should talk to Luna about this, if you work together maybe you can beat the Yakuza and afterwards you can have your fairy tale ending."

Alice just looked at Zoe with a morose expression and replied "Monsters like me always wind up dead in fairy tales."

Before Zoe could make a counterpoint Alice's phone began to vibrate on the table, the bunny glanced at the phone and saw the letters 'L.W' on the screen, Luna was calling her. With trepidation Alice picked up and answered her phone " _Bonsoir?"_

" **Alice, I really need your help!"** Luna's urgent voice came over the line.

Alice sensed something was clearly amiss and asked "What's wrong?"

" **Look I need you to find Rattigan and get him somewhere safe!"** Luna stressed.

" _Excuse moi?"_ Alice replied, baffled by the request.

" **Long story short; Spitfire is going to kill Rattigan, she's trapped the rest of the team and is tearing apart the city looking for him!"** Luna explained with haste.

"…Ok." Alice composed herself "I know a few places he likes to hang out, I'll head to them and put him in a safehouse."

" **Thank you, look I'm heading back to Zootopia now, I just need to swing by my penthouse to get my uniform and bow then I'll drive to wherever you are."** Luna replied.

"I wouldn't do that, if Rattigan's hiding where I think he is it's right on the borders of the city, you'll go right past it. Listen I'll get someone I trust to get your gear and wait for you at the city line." Alice informed.

" **A-Are you sure?"** Luna reacted.

"Trust me, just wait for my text ok?" Alice replied.

" **O-Ok I'll be around couple of hours getting back to Zootopia."** Luna replied, her nerves clear to hear.

"Luna don't worry, I can handle things until you arrive." Alice assured.

" **If you see Spitfire before I do tell her that I sent you, it might make her listen."** Luna said, she was panting with panic.

"I will, it'll be ok…I love you." Alice spoke, the last three words slipped from her mouth on reflex.

" **I love you too."** Luna replied, sounding a little shocked upon hearing the words, she then ended the call.

Alice removed the phone from her ear and let out a tired breath before saying "Looks like The Burst Pipe will have to wait."

"Alice, me and Camelot can't help you, it's outside our jurisdiction." Zoe said apologetically, the fruit bat had overheard the entire conversation.

"It's ok." Alice calmed while selecting Jasiri's number on her phone "I've got a friend who can help me, I was planning on telling her everything soon but I never thought it would be like this."

000

Luna had said her rushed goodbyes and believable excuse about being needed to perform emergency surgery back in the city to her relatives in a very hectic manner. For someone who was bad at lying she managed to pull it off this time, she even fooled Hannah and Robyn who were accustomed to making excuses to make speedy exits. Judy, the only mammal who knew what was going on, had gotten Luna a ride, the restored 69 dodge charger that had just one first prize at the Carrot Days festival. When Judy told Heather it was for an emergency she handed over the keys without hesitation.

Now Luna had sped past the Bunnyburrow town lines going way over the speed limit. Zootopia was around 211 miles away, if she had no delays and wasn't stopped by the cops for speeding she'd be there in just over two hours. But a lot could happen in that two hours, Olivia could find Rattigan and kill him. Luna could not let that happen, she couldn't let her best friend fall into the same dark pit she did, Luna had killed a Drowned cultist the night her penthouse was attacked and she had caused another mammal to be forever locked in his body thanks to a stroke she intentionally created. Luna had tormented herself for what she did to Chen, resigning him to a fate worse than death, the guilt would never go away. Even though Chen was a criminal who was responsible for dragging her birth mother's name through the dirt and the demise of Little John, Luna knew she had gone to far, that she was worse than Chen. The night she caused Chen's stroke was the night she lost a part of herself that she could never reclaim no matter how much good she did as a heroine.

" _Brooding and driving is a bad combination."_ A voice taunted from the passenger seat.

Luna already knew who was talking to her, she felt her teeth grit together as she peaked to her left to see a hallucination of her dark side smirking at her "You really know when to show up at the worst possible times." Luna sniped at Andraste.

" _On the contrary, I believe I show up when you need me most Mommy's girl."_ Andraste parried, leaning back and putting her feet up on the dashboard.

"You mean like the other night at the stadium? For Christ's sake Andraste you nearly killed that beaver!" Luna griped.

" _Look we both thought Robbie was dead, we were both upset but only I was the one who could go through with it."_ Andraste justified.

"Thank god Olivia was there to stop you." Luna sighed, her amber eyes locked on the road.

" _And now it looks like we have to return the favour."_ Andraste stated.

"Excuse me? 'We'? There is no 'We'. I'm going to stop Olivia by myself." Luna replied firmly.

" _I know this may be hard for you to understand, but I care about Olivia too."_ Andraste said defensively.

"Oh so you're not just a homicidal freak who's first reaction to everything is to kill?" Luna asked sarcastically.

" _Hey it was your messed up mind that made me in the first place_ , _the moment you got Little John killed was the moment I was born."_ Andraste snarled.

"This isn't about us, this is about stopping Olivia." Luna said, not rising to Andraste's attempt of making her upset.

" _That's why I'm here, I want to stop her too."_ Andraste reaffirmed.

"And why are you suddenly growing a conscience now?" Luna asked dubiously.

" _Because I don't want her to become like us!"_ Andraste answered, her voice cracking slightly.

"What?" Luna reacted, shocked to see a sorrowful look on the hallucination's face.

" _You think I like myself? I don't! I hate myself! I hate myself for what we did to Chen, for all the bad stuff I've done. All your self-loathing, all your hatred, all your dark thoughts and desires keep me here…I never want Olivia to feel like this."_ Andraste cried with anger.

"Andraste, you…you really want to help me?" Luna asked, hoping this was not some trick.

" _Of course I do, I told you once that we want the same things, the only difference is I take a different path to you but there is only one path we can take here; talking to Olivia."_ Andraste spoke, wiping away some tears leaving Luna wondering if it was possible for a hallucination to cry.

"But what if she won't listen?" Luna asked nervously.

" _Then we force her out of her suit and make her listen."_ Andraste said.

Just then Luna's phone vibrated with a text message, with one hand on the steering wheel the vixen opened up the message 'Route 403, rest stop just outside the meadowlands, Jasiri's got your gear. A.K xxx'

000

There are two types of criminals on the run; paranoid ones and fearless ones. Paranoid criminals would either hide out in an apartment in the worst part of town or a log cabin in the middle of nowhere but Rattigan was fearless when it came to getting caught. The drug lord had paid off so many cops and bribed countless establishments he could go anywhere in the city, but Ronin knew there was only a few places Rattigan would go to unwind at the weekend and they were all the affluent Meadowlands district of Zootopia. One by one Ronin went through all of Rattigan's known haunts, there was the illegal casino tucked away in seemingly normal prairie dog burrow, a hunting lodge which had a strict Male-Only policy (Ronin had to break a few bones to get in) but there was only one place left; The Elysian Fields spa.

Now like most places frequented by the rich and powerful there was more to this spa than meets the eye, this supposed place of relaxation and detoxing also catered to the hedonistic lifestyles of some of their clientele. Rattigan was a creature of habit and always rented the same luxury cabin on the grounds of the spa which catered to smaller mammals, Ronin only had to jump the fence to see which cabin Rattigan was residing in; it was the one with armed guards of varying sizes surrounding it.

Ronin knew this was a dangerous situation she was walking into but she made a promise and she intended to keep it. She approached the cabin with her hands above her head, when she about fifteen feet away a tapir armed guard noticed her and blurted out "Holy crap it's Ronin!" the tubby tapir then got out his handgun and aimed at Ronin, soon all the other guards followed suit.

"Easy, I'm just here to talk." Ronin replied, her hands still up.

"Yeah pull the other one flat foot, we all know your game!" The Tapir tried to sound tough but it was clear he was terrified.

"Look if I wanted you and your boss dead I would've just snuck in and sliced you up not walk right up to all of you with my paws raised." Ronin pointed out.

The Tapir didn't lower his gun but his nerves had visibly settled "So what do you want?"

"Your boss is in danger, I'm here to get him somewhere safe, just let me talk to the professor." Alice informed.

The Tapir thought about this for a few seconds before turning to a hedgehog guarding the door of the cabin "Go inside and tell the boss Ronin is here to see him."

A minute or so later the hedgehog came out of the small cabin and said to Ronin "The Professor will see you now."

Ronin approached the cabin with all the guns still trained on her, she had to duck to get under the doorframe and when she entered it was clear that this building was designed for mammals much smaller than herself, she was lead to a room where the sound of classical music could be heard along with the sound of multiple mammals laughing. The hedgehog guard opened the door and Alice squeezed into a room that made her uncomfortable. In the centre of the room was a hot tub and occupying it was a quartet of naked female rats with Padraic Rattigan between them also naked except for the crown he was wearing on his head. "Good evening, Ronin." Rattigan greeted, raising his champagne flute to the assassin.

"I am sorry for interrupting your evening professor, but there is something dire I need to share with you." Ronin replied quickly, thankful her mask and goggles covered up her disgusted look.

"Yes, my guards said something about me being in danger? Now not to sound ungrateful but why would one of the highest paid killers in the world come all this way to protect me when I haven't paid you to do so?" Rattigan asked, sipping his champagne.

"Someone hired me to make sure you stay alive," Ronin lied "and before you ask, no I'm not going to tell you who hired me, you know how customer confidentiality is."

"Hmm, so who's on the way to whack me?" Rattigan quizzed, sounding curious "The Cartels? The Irish Mob or is it those moronic Drowned?"

"It's Spitfire." Ronin replied.

"Ha, that's funny," Rattigan snorted, openly groping one of the rat girls in the tub with him "Everyone knows those Ceratais freaks don't kill."

"My intel is good, I know that Spitfire has imprisoned the rest of Ceartais so they wouldn't interrupt it hunting you down and that's it's going to all your known hangouts and tearing them apart looking for you." Ronin persuaded.

Rattigan was quiet for a moment before asking "What are you proposing?"

"I take you to one of my safe houses, I'll wait for word of Spitfire being dealt with and then I'll take you back to whether you want to go." Ronin offered.

"You and your master were never known for lying, your code of honour would never allow it." Rattigan commented "Very well I shall come with you, give me a moment to change." Rattigan then rose out of the tub much to the displeasure of Ronin, who was saw everything.

Just under ten minutes later Rattigan had changed into his best suit, cape and top hat, the gangster rodent was being led to Ronin's motorcycle. "I can't see why I can't travel in one of my cars." Rattigan protested, walking beside Ronin and his armed guards.

"Because Spitfire will be looking for your vehicles, it's better if we take my bike." Ronin answered.

"Well where on earth am I supposed to sit?" Rattigan asked in a snooty manner.

"In one of the saddle bags, you'll be safe and out of sight." Ronin replied getting her keys out of her pocket.

"You expect me to..." Rattigan began to complain but he was interrupted.

"Ssshhh," Ronin hissed looking spooked, before pointing to her ears "listen." Everyone fell silent and opened their ears and they suddenly realised why Ronin had become so tense, the unmistakeable sound of Spitfire's jet thrusters were approaching from the south. "We're out of time." Ronin mumbled.

000

Luna pulled into the small rest stop just on the city borderline at the northernmost tip of the Meadowlands, the sun had just set and the place was empty except for a small silver hatchback. Luna immediately spotted a confused and worried looking Jasiri in the driver's seat of the hatchback. As Luna turned off the engine of the charger, the spotted hyena got out of her car holding a large sports bag. "Hey Jasiri." Luna panted, getting out of the charger and jogging over to the hyena.

"H-hey Andi." Jasiri replied, clearly feeling uneasy "I, uh, got Alice's spare key to your place from her apartment and grabbed your, um, equipment."

"Thanks." Luna responded, snatching the bag out of Jasiri's hands, she knew she should be concerned about someone else knowing her heroic identity but right now she couldn't care less.

"I've got some questions." Jasiri spoke up, willing herself to be assertive.

"Fine, but you going to have to ask him while I get changed." Luna replied, trotting over to the ladies bathroom with Jasiri close behind her.

"You're Andraste, aren't you? You're a member of team Ceartais?" Jasiri probed as Luna opened the bathroom door and crouched down to check that the stalls were empty.

"Yes." Luna answered curtly, going into an empty stall and locking it.

"And your real name isn't Andi, it's Luna Wilde right?" Jasiri continued, hungry for answers.

"How did you know that?" Luna asked back, quickly getting undressed.

"I saw some mail in your apartment, it said Dr. Luna Wilde." Jasiri answered before asking "So what's all this got to do with Alice? You haven't gotten in her in trouble have you?"

"Look Alice is helping me out, we're trying to save a life." Luna responded briskly, slipping into her uniform and lacing up her bodice.

"So she's a hero, like you and Kion?" Jasiri asked, hoping this was the case.

"No Alice is something different…wait! Did you just say Kion? How do you know about Kion?" Luna babbled with panic.

"He's my boyfriend." Jasiri responded.

"WHAT!?" Luna yelled, opening the door of the stall, the vixen was only wearing her knickers and bodice but for some reason felt the need to be face to face with Jasiri for this.

"Kion's my boyfriend, he's actually friends with Alice too." Jasiri explained, surprised that Luna seemed so shocked.

"All this time…all this time, Kion was in the apartment right above us, I could've been caught at any moment." Luna gawped, before grabbing her leather trousers and putting them on.

"Wait why isn't Kion helping you?" Jasiri asked.

"He's been tranquilized and locked up at our base." Luna answered, still reeling from the revelation.

"What!? Is he ok? Who did this?" Jasiri flapped.

"Relax, he's ok, my grandparents are taking care of him. And as for who shot him with a tranq dart, it was Spitfire." Luna grimaced, getting her quiver out her bag and happy to see her new experimental arrows were in there.

"But Spitfire's a good guy!" Jasiri reacted.

"She is, but she's gone off the rails, Alice and I need to stop her before she does something stupid." Luna explained, slipping her quiver on and grabbing her hat.

"…Look I have hardly any idea what's going on but I'm telling you if anything happens to Alice I'm coming for you, she's only in this mess because of you." Jasiri tried to sound intimidating, but the good natured mammal couldn't be intimidating if she tried.

Instead of being insulted or acting defensive Luna just smiled at the spotted hyena "Alice is lucky to have a best friend like you Jasiri and don't worry, I won't let anything bad happen to girl I love."

"You love-" Jasiri began but was cut off by Luna's phone vibrating loudly.

Luna quickly grabbed her phone and opened the message 'Spitfire's found us, we're on my bike heading to you, get ready.' "Oh crap." Luna breathed.

000

" _Merde, merde, merde!"_ Alice swore thricely as she sped down route 403 on her motorcycle while swerving between vehicles as she tried to escape Spitfire who was closely following about twenty feet in the air above her.

"Hand over Rattigan!" Spitfire's loud speakers boomed.

Rattigan popped his head out of the saddlebag he was hiding in to peek up at the mech following the bike "We need to get somewhere secluded, maybe then we can outrun it!" He barked at Alice.

"As soon as we break off from this traffic that robot will fire missiles at us, we need to stay in a populated area, it won't fire when there's civilians around!" Ronin shouted back, narrowly missing a pizza delivery van.

"So what's the plan? We can't run forever!" Rattigan demanded.

"I've got back up waiting about half a mile north of here, just sit tight and stay out of sight!" Ronin told, praying that Luna was at the rest stop.

Spitfire had enough of waiting and swooped down at the bike, Ronin spied the mech in her wing mirror and just as Spitfire outstretched her giant metal hand to grab the saddle bag the lapin threw a smoke bomb right at the mech's face, causing it stall and stumble to the tarmac as Ronin raced away on her bike.

Spitfire was only down for a few seconds before launching herself back up into the air and continuing her pursuit of the bike. As Ronin spied the sign for the upcoming rest stop she also noticed that the traffic had thinned and there was no vehicles around her, she looked behind her with alarm as she saw her theory become true, the shoulder pauldrons of Spitfire were now open each revealing a trio of small missiles. The first two missiles flew from Spitfire and both landed just shy of the bike, Ronin wobbled a little but continued racing towards the rest stop. Two more missiles came and exploded on the road in front of Ronin, kicking up rubble and dust but the steel nerved rabbit sped through with ease. Spitfire let out a very loud scream over her speakers before sending the last brace of missiles volleying towards Ronin's motorcycle, one of them missed by a longshot but the other struck the road just to the left the bike, the shockwave of the explosion causing Ronin to skid and crash, the bunny rolled across the tarmac and stopped with a groan of pain. As she stumbled up to her feet she could already see Spitfire had landed and was stomping over to the bike, the mech crouched down and reached inside the saddle bag before pulling out an unconscious Rattigan who had been knocked out by the crash. "Wake up, I want you to be awake when I end your life!" Spitfire bellowed at the limp rat in her hand.

Suddenly an arrow imbedded itself in the empty saddle bag Spitfire was beside, before she could reacted the arrow burst with a bright light that oversaturatedSpitfire's lenses stunning her. In this brief moment a figure whizzed by and snatched Rattigan out of Spitfire's hand, when Spitfire's sensors came back online a few seconds later she saw Andraste and Ronin standing side by side with Rattigan slumped on a tree behind them.

"You need to stand down Spitfire!" Andraste warmed, a fresh arrow already drawn and aimed at the mech.

"Get out of my way, he needs to die!" Spitfire yelled, shocked to see her best friend.

"We're not going to let you do that." Ronin replied, her katana gripped in her paws.

"You don't what he's done!" Spitfire argued.

"Yes I do! Mage called me and explained everything." Andraste shouted back.

"Then you know why he has to die! He killed my parents, he nearly killed Blake, think of all the mammals that have died because of him, it's time for him to pay the price for his crimes." Spitfire countered.

"And you thinking killing him will fix all that? That justice will be served, killing him is too easy, let him rot for twenty years on death row." Ronin bargained.

"The assassin is giving me lessons on morality?" Spitfire laughed darkly.

"You can still do the right thing here." Ronin tried to persuade "It's not too late."

"You kill for money right? I'll give you a $100 million if you plunged that sword into that bastard's heart." Spitfire offered.

"I'm sorry but I'll have to refuse, it conflicts with one my contracts." Ronin replied in a steely tone "I've been charged with protecting the lives of Team Ceartais and if you kill Rattigan now, your life will be over."

"Oh spare me you're false honour." Spitfire griped.

"Spitfire, don't make us stop you." Andraste warned.

"You really think you two can take me?" Spitfire mocked before raising it's arms and revealing the tranq dart cannons imbedded in each gauntlet, four darts zipped at the archer and the swordswoman, with swiftness and grace Ronin sliced through each dart before throwing a shuriken in the barrel of the left dart cannon jamming it and the same instance Andraste fired an arrow at the other gauntlet, as soon as it made it contact with the mech it burst open with concentrated liquid nitrogen causing the dart cannon to freeze up. Andraste and Ronin charged at Spitfire together while screaming their war cries, Ronin managed to pierce one of Spitfire's eyes with her sword before being knocked down to the floor with powerful fist. Andraste took advantage of Spitfire being distracted and fired two more of her experimental arrows at Spitfire's head, the corrosive arrows burst open on Spitfire's head and melted through the lenses and part of the head rendering her blind. Andraste thought she was out of danger but a kick to the abdomen sent her crashing on top of Ronin with a yelp of pain. Spitfire stood above Ronin and Andraste as her chest cavity opened and the cockpit was revealed, inside was the furious Olivia Dawson "You think a little acid and ice will beat me?" the mech grabbed Ronin's katana and Luna's bow and tossed them away

"O-Olivia, don't do this." Andraste panted, winded from the blow.

"I don't need my weapons to kill Rattigan, all I need is one good stomp with Spitfire's foot." Olivia spat, walking over to the knocked out drug lord.

"Olivia please! I know you think this is what you want but trust me as soon as you kill him you'll regret it." Andraste pleaded, struggling to her feet.

"Just because you can't handle your sins doesn't mean I can't handle mine." Olivia barbed.

"The take it from a full time killer!" Ronin shouted, her body throbbing with pain "You do this you'll become monsters like us!"

"No I won't!" Olivia howled with tears in her eyes "I'm killing the monster who put my Blake in the ICU, the monster who murdered my parents and left me to burn in that fire!"

Andraste used all her energy to run at Spitfire, Olivia saw the move coming and whipped around grabbing Andraste by the throat "You won't stop me!" the mouse yelled.

"T-This isn't you." Andraste wheezed trying to escape Spitfire's grip.

"No it isn't but who've I got to be right now." Olivia cried.

"S-so what you're going to kill him for your parents that you can't even remember?!" Andraste lashed out.

"Shut up!" Spitfire reacted.

"Kodi told me Blake will live! I know you know this! So you're willing to throw everything away because you're angry?!" Andraste growled, looking Olivia square in the eye.

"You don't understand!" Olivia screamed.

"Yes! Yes I do!" Andraste screamed back "I know what it's like to be angry all the time, I know what it's like to want to kill and I've done things I can never take back."

"L-Listen to her Spitfire." Ronin willed, getting up on her shaky legs.

"You stopped me doing something terrible at that stadium, I nearly killed that beaver and the only reason I didn't is because you overpowered me." Luna spoke, her neck in agony "We can't stop you physically, but I never want you to feel the way I do, you have a choice here, I beg you to make the right one."

"Don't become a monster." Ronin added anxiously.

Olivia was trembling in her cockpit, her eyes were full of angry tears, her teeth were grinding with stress and then without warning she dropped Andraste from her grip and let out an emotionally filled cry before roaring at the top of her lungs "Fuck it!" Olivia powered down Spitfire and tossed her helmet out of the open cockpit, Andraste was already on her feet and offered her paw to Olivia, who jumped on without hesitation, the mouse raced up her best friend's arm and hugged the vixen's face, crying hard into the fur.

Andraste gently stroked Olivia and let her cry "It's ok, it's going to be ok." She soothed.

"I'm s-sorry." Olivia bawled.

"It's ok, it's ok." Andraste hushed, despite feeling battered and bruised she felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

Feeling awkward the exhausted Ronin spoke up "Listen, I best leave before the cops show up." The rabbit then began limping to her bike.

"Alice wait." Andraste called after her love.

Ronin turned around sharply, nearly gasping at Andraste calling her by her real name in front of Spitfire. Luna then gently picked up Olivia and placed her on the ground "W-What did you just call her?" Olivia asked, still blubbering as she watched the vixen walk over to the assassin

Andraste took a deep breath before taking off her domino mask, causing Olivia to look on with bewilderment through her teary eyes. The unmasked Luna nodded at Ronin, the bunny read what her vixen wanted and pulled down her mask and lowered her goggles, revealing her uneasy face. Luna then bit the bullet and grabbed Alice's hand in front of Olivia,the couple shared a brief but loving smile before the vixen turned to her best friend and declared "There's something I need to tell you."

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! The Secret's out! What did you guys think PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! Now there won't be a chapter of SOC Next Monday because I'm going on a stag holiday to Spain so I'm going to be way too drunk and busy to write anything so the next chapter will be on the 26th Match! Next time on SOC; Rattigan finally pays for his crimes, Olivia has reached her limit and the rest of the team learn about Luna and Alice's relationship. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	48. When it rains, it pours

(AN/ I'm Back! Yes after a week off for a holiday to sunny spain I'm back with a brand new chapter of SOC! And if you've noticed on my tumblr the first pieces of art for Take A Stand 3: The Broken Mirror and the Ronin spin off fic by ziegelzeig have been released, I hope you'll keep reading this series! So a big thank you to everyone who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last update and also a giant thank you to the Take a Stand dev team who help me produce new chapters every week, you know who you folks are and you're all awesome. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 47- When it rains, it pours**

The cops had arrived a few minutes later, finding Andraste guarding the unconscious Professor Rattigan, who was placed on the hood of the emerald green Dodge charger. Soon enough, the entire scene was cornered off and an ambulance had arrived to take Rattigan to the hospital under a heavy police guard. Two cops questioned Andraste about what had happened and they were both mammals very familiar to the vixen. "So let me get this straight; Rattigan was being protected by a mercenary bunny who beat you and got away but left Rattigan behind?" Sgt. Nala Priderock asked, sounding sceptical as she wrote down the details on her notepad. Her partner and friend, Clawhauser, was also wearing a doubtful expression.

"Yeah that's pretty much it." Andraste replied awkwardly, she was still terrible at lying.

"A bunny beat you?" Clawhauser scoffed.

"A bunny who is also a ninja, besides Chief Wilde is a bunny and she's taken out mammals much bigger than her." Andraste dodged.

"I suppose, but what about the reports that Spitfire was here?" Nala pressed.

"Oh, right, um, well Spitfire was here but suffered some damage in the fight and flew back to base to get repaired." Andraste babbled, nervously twirling an arrow in her hand.

Clawhauser and Nala looked at one another, both of them clearly not believing Andraste, but all that mattered was the result. "You're lucky you've been deputized because any other time we'd be taking your lying ass down to the precinct." Nala huffed, putting her notepad away to which Andraste laughed nervously.

"But we've really got to thank you," Clawhauser gave a satisfied smile as he watched Rattigan being wheeled into an ambulance "we've been after Rattigan for years."

Andraste's face grew serious before saying "Just make sure you got officers you trust guarding him, we both know he's got some dirty cops in his pocket."

"Don't worry, I've picked the officers myself, as soon as he's being given a clean bill of health he's heading to the county lock up." Nala assured.

"So can I leave?" Andraste asked awkwardly.

"Sure," Clawhauser smiled "but just a tip; you really need to work on your lying."

Andraste's cheeks were blushing under her fur as she turned around and headed for the charger, with the licence plates having being hastily covered with mud so they couldn't be read. As she went to open the drivers door a concerned voice spoke up "Andraste?" the red fox knew the voice and looked down to her left to see a skittish Basil Dawson looking up at her "Is she ok?" The CSI was beside himself with worry.

"She's ok Basil, we just need to talk about a few things, I'm sure you'll see her later."Andraste replied quietly so the nearby officers couldn't eavesdrop.

"Thank you." Basil gave a sad smile, his paw going to his chest with relief.

"You best get back to work before mammals start to notice." Andraste suggested to which the mouse nodded and returned to his work. Andraste then got into the charger, started the engine and drove off, when she could no longer see the crime scene in the rear view mirror she reached over and opened the glovebox to find a very irked Olivia looking back at her "It's safe to come out now." The vixen spoke.

Olivia hopped onto the passenger seat, sat down and crossed her arms over her chest "Head to the bunker." She ordered, a lingering anger could be heard in her voice.

"Right," Luna nodded before asking in a timid voice "…so are we not going to talk about what I just told you?"

"Here's what's going to happen; we're both going to remain silent and then when we get to the bunker I'll talk to your stupid arse, got it?" Olivia spoke with venom.

"Ok." Andraste sighed, knowing that the next hour or two were going to be an assault on her emotions.

Back at the bunker the team were left baffled when the empty and heavily damaged Spitfire came through the flight tunnel in the roof. They were left to speculate if Olivia was safe, if she had killed Rattigan and if Luna had managed to stop her. Luckily for them they didn't have to wait too long to have their worries washed away, the vehicle entrance opened up and down the spiral slope came the dodge charger with Andraste at the wheel and Olivia stood on the dashboard. "Oh thank god!" Marian exclaimed, running to the charger and wrapping her arms around her granddaughter the moment she exited the car.

"Easy Nana." Luna calmed, hugging Marian with one arm and taking off her mask with the other.

"When we saw the mech we though something terrible had happened." Robin senior breathed, joining the hug.

Kodi had gone over to the passenger door and offered his open paw to Olivia, the small Scottish mouse leapt onto the paw and hastily ran up Kodi arm, hugging his cheek when she got up there "I'm sorry." Olivia apologised.

"It's ok," Kodi eased but had to ask "So Luna did stop you in time, right?"

"…She did." Olivia answered, glowering at her best friend, her feelings for the vixen were in limbo right now.

"Rattigan's in hospital with a mild concussion, Nala and Clawhauser are making sure there are honest cops guarding him." Luna clarified, finally breaking free of her grandparent's hug.

"Hopefully they'll give the bastard a life sentence." Robin sr. vented.

"Or even better, the death penalty." Marian concurred.

"Wait, where's Kion?" Olivia asked, looking around to see no sign of the lion.

"We managed to move him into a bunk but damn he's heavy." Kodi replied "He's still sleeping the tranq off."

Olivia looked sheepishly at Marian and Robin sr. then said "I'm sorry guys, you were trying to help me and I pushed you away."

"All that matters is that you didn't go through with it." Marian smiled warmly at the engineer.

"And that you're safe." Robin added before turning to Luna and asking "But how did you find Olivia?"

"Uh…" Luna sounded, looking at her feet.

Olivia expression hardened as she looked at Luna, the others noticed this causing Marian to ask "What?"

"Oh you're all going to love this." Olivia replied sarcastically "Kodi be a love and open the trunk."

"Uh, why?" The wolf asked back, befuddled.

"Just open it." Olivia insisted.

Kodi shrugged and walked around to the trunk of the charger, opened it and immediately gasped "What the hell!?"

Inside the trunk was Ronin with her paws and feet bound with cable ties, the rabbit had a peeved expression on her masked face as she looked up at Kodi and Olivia "Were the ties really necessary?" she asked sounding ticked off.

"Ronin!?" Kodi gasped yet again, pointing at the swordswoman and babbling "Why is Ronin in the trunk!?"

Robin sr. and Marian rushed over to see if Kodi's rambling were true and both were shocked when they saw the bunny "You've got to be bloody kidding me." Marian snarled, clenching her fists.

"Why'd you bring her here!?" Robin sr. shouted,unable to comprehend how the two heroines could make such a rookie mistake.

"Because Luna's got something to tell us, haven't you Luna?" Olivia sniped.

Luna ignored the barb and pushed passed her grandparents, unsheathing one of her daggers and cutting through the cable ties triggering Marian to yell "Why are you cutting her free?!"

"Enough with the shouting," Luna snapped, helping Ronin out of the trunk "Ronin was the one who helped me stop Olivia."

"And why in the world would an assassin help us?" Robin sr. barked.

"Well that's difficult to explain." Luna replied, looking down at her anxious looking girlfriend.

"It doesn't matter I'm going to knock every tooth out of this little twat's skull." Marian growled, cracking her knuckles.

"Who is this angry old vixen?" Ronin asked dryly, pulling down her mask so she could speak clearer.

"That's my nana and the guy beside her is my grandad." Luna quickly answered.

"I see," Alice sighed, looking at Marian and saying "I'm assuming you're hostile towards me because of what I did to Scarlet?"

"Damn right and when I'm finished with you I'm going to let her get her own back on your arse." Marian threatened, taking a few steps towards the assassin.

"Nana, cool it." Luna warned, stepping between her grandmother and Alice.

"Can someone please explain what the hell's going on? I'm freaking out here." Kodi blurted out.

"You know Ronin was hired to protect Ceartais? Well guess who hired her?" Olivia snarked.

Robin sr. looked at Luna and gawped "Luna? You hired Ronin?"

"Yes." Luna admitted, walking a few metres away from the group with Alice closely following her.

"You hired a contract killer? Are you insane!?" Marian raged.

"She saved my life, she's saved Robyn, Hannah and Kodi's too." Luna tried to justify.

"By killing mammals! For god's sake Luna you know what she did to your sister." Robin sr. seethed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up." Kodi spoke up "How the hell did this all come about? Last time I checked you wanted to tear Ronin apart."

There was a silence as Alice and Luna looked one another for strength, they were about to reply when Olivia blasted "Tell them what you told me!"

Luna bared her fangs and shouted "We're a couple!"

There was a stunned silence among the others, all of them slack jawed bar Olivia who was simmering with anger. Robin sr. was certain of what he heard, he just didn't believe it, Marian was caught between her rage and confusion as her brain tried to process what she had just heard while poor Kodi was left completely bamboozled. Olivia's anger was finally overflowing and it began to pour from her mouth "You cheating, two faced, bunny shagging, closeted, spoiled, psychotic, hypocritical, deceiving bitch!"

Luna was taken aback by the long insult, it stung and so she reacted with "Jesus, Olivia."

"With all the shit I've been through in the last couple of days why in god's name did you think it was good time to drop this bombshell?" Olivia demanded to know.

"Ok, I admit my timing was poor but-" Luna began but was interrupted.

"Yeah no shit!" Olivia butted in.

"But I was tired of keeping this a secret, I love Alice." Luna spoke from the heart, looking it her girlfriend's golden eyes and feeling empowered.

"Alice? Who the fuck is Alice?" Marian gawped, reeling from the truth bomb.

"Um, that's me; Alice Kirabito." Alice introduced herself timidly.

"I can't believe this, I mean love, it's just crazy." Robin sr. shook his head "Since when were you into girls or inter for that matter?"

"Alice was the first girl I was ever attracted too, it didn't matter about gender or species for me, all I saw was her, I saw someone like me." Luna said honestly

"Luna you know that we're a very liberal family, we'd accept whatever sexuality you are," Marian spoke firmly "but I can't accept you sleeping with the god damn enemy!"

"I am not your enemy." Alice replied, trying not to get caught up in the vixen's anger.

"You're a murderer!" Marian fired back.

"So are you!" Luna countered "And so am I! We've both killed mammals either out of rage or self defence!"

"But she kills for money! All she is…is…" Marian was struggling to find the right word.

"A monster." Alice said clearly, the admission silenced the ranting vixen, the bunny then sighed before saying "Everything you're saying is right; yes I kill for money but I only pick targets who deserve to die. And I know that makes me just as bad as them but believe me when I say this; I love Luna, she's the only mammal who loves for who I really am, she knows the worst parts of me and still she gives me love I know I don't deserve."

"Awwww." Kodi sounded, unable to contain his shipper instincts.

"Kodi!" Olivia scolded, swatting the wolf's cheek.

"Sorry but that was sweet." Kodi fumbled an excuse.

"There is nothing sweet about her, you saw first hand what she did to Robyn." Robin sr. reminded.

"I know I went too far with what I did to Scarlet but I was trying to help her." Alice explained.

"Help her? You practically tortured the girl! How the hell is that helping?" Marian questioned with spite.

"I was trying to make her quit, she is just a child, she shouldn't be in this world of ours." Alice argued "She should be focusing on school and enjoying her teenage years, not fighting scum like me."

"Oh how nice of you," Olivia cooed cynically "and why would you want to help her?"

"Because I know first hand what it's like to grow up in the shadows, to not have a childhood, to grow up with violence…when I looked at Scarlet I could already see the rage taking her over, she'll become a monster too if she's not careful." Alice warned.

"You know nothing about our Robyn, she's nothing like you." Robin sr. responded.

"For her sake, I hope your right." Alice replied.

"Ok back to matter at hand." Marian spoke up then turned to Luna and asked "How the hell did this start? Wait! Did you cheat on Aleks with her?"

"…Yeah." Luna confessed "It's complicated but yeah, I slept with Alice while I was with Aleks."

"So you cheated on Aleks, a mammal who showed you nothing but love, a perfect boyfriend, for a bloody killer?" Olivia piled on.

"Yes, I cheated on him and when he dumped me I went crawling back to Alice, is that what you want to hear!?" Luna slung back.

"What's with all the shouting?" A groggy voice cut turned around to see a sleepy looking Kion coming out of the dorm hallway.

"Kion?" Alice gasped, surprised to see a friendly face, she couldn't help but jog over to the lion.

"Alice? What the?" Kion uttered, still sleepy from the tranq dart.

Alice didn't know why he was here but she was happy to see her friend despite the weird circumstances, she beckoned the lion to crouch down with a wave of her paw "Come down here, I need a hug."

"Uh, sure." Kion shrugged, still half asleep and wondering why Alice was dressed so strangely and in the bunker.

As the big hearted feline hugged the bunny the others were once again baffled by what they were seeing, Olivia was the first to react "What the hell is this!?"

"Is she banging Kion too!?" Marian exclaimed.

"Dude, why are you hugging her?" Kodi asked his friend loudly.

"Um, Alice is my friend, she's Jasiri's best friend." Kion still had tranquilizers in his bloodstream that were making him drowsy.

"WHAT!?" Everyone except Luna yelped.

"Don't talk so loud, my head's still fuzzy." Kion moaned.

Alice was released from the hug and turned back to Luna and asked in a puzzled manner "Why is Kion here?"

"Because he's Roar." Luna answered, a headache was beginning to form in her cranium.

"Pftt, Kion? Is Roar?" Alice sniggered, not believing that the gentle lion was the super powered brute "Kion's a big marshmallow, he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"I am Roar." Kion affirmed, trying to focus.

Alice got a closer look at the cat, her expression becoming steely as she started to notice some similarities in the facial structure, she began to worry but had to ask "Kion, what's your surname?"

"Huh? It's Priderock, why?" He asked back, feeling like he sank a bottle of bourbon.

Alice's ears went droopy, she took a step back and mumbled "Kion, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." The guilt of hunting Kiara had now rose to the surface.

"Didn't know what?" Kion asked, his voice shaky.

"News flash big guy, Luna's been dating your little bunny friend." Kodi clued his confused friend in.

"Yeah I know." Kion replied, wondering why everyone was so worked up.

"You knew?" Luna gasped with everyone else equally stunned.

"I kinda' figured it out about a week ago, I didn't want to out you so I didn't say anything." Kion answered "Just so you know, I think you two are a cute couple." This caused Luna to smile warmly.

"Hold the bloody phone!" Marian cut in "You're telling us that you knew Luna was dating Ronin and you kept quiet?"

"Ronin? What's Ronin got to do with this?"Kion responded.

"That rabbit is Ronin." Robin sr. said, pointing at the assassin.

"No…no. Alice is a grad student."Kion spoke, still feeling the effects of the tranq.

"Kion, they're telling the truth." Alice said, sounding ashamed "I'm Ronin…I'm the one who hunted your sister."

"No…you can't be…" Kion refused to believe that his friend was someone so twisted "You're my friend, how could…"

"I didn't know she was your sister, I never knew you were a Priderock." Alice made excuses, her guilt burning in her chest.

"That doesn't change the fact that you hunted her, so much for targeting mammals who deserve it." Olivia jabbed.

Alice glared at the mouse and replied "If you knew Kiara like I do, you'd know she's got as much blood on her hands as mine, plus she left for me dead on a mission, I saw it as payback."

"I…I need to take a minute." Kion said before stumbling back into the dorm area, his face displaying his torn emotions.

"Kion…" Alice spoke, feeling her guts lurched with guilt.

"I'll go after him." Kodi volunteered, jogging after the lion.

"Well this one nice big mess." Robin sr. declared "So now what?"

"Well I say we dump this little turd on the steps of the ZPD." Marian suggested.

"Nana, please." Luna cautioned.

"Actually there is something we need to discuss." Alice piped up "It's about The Drowned."

"When it rains, it pours." Robin sr. gave a tired sigh.

"What about The Drowned?" Olivia queried.

"They're planning something big, but I think we need to discuss this with a friend from Camelot as well." Alice said, ready to reveal everything.

000

Professor Rattigan had awoken in the ER of The Mother of Mercy Hospital, nestled in the heart of the meadowland district. The mob boss was a mix of horrified and furious to find himself handcuffed to a stretcher with four armed cops guarding him as the medical team tended to his injuries. The rat was transferred to a private room in a secluded ward at the back of the hospital where he was still handcuffed and two cops were stationed outside his room, two cops that weren't on his payroll. But Rattigan wasn't worried, he knew that word of him being arrested would spread around the ZPD and soon enough his paid off cops would come to his rescue, the drug lord was confident that the dirty cops would never risk him getting locked up and exposing them in a plea deal. So all Rattigan had to do was wait for his rescue, the rat was so calm he actually fell asleep.

While the mobster snoozed two small figures snuck up on the cops manning the door to the private room, they didn't even notice one of the figures pull out a rapid fire tranq pistol, the darts landed perfectly in the necks of the officers and both fell to the floor with a loud thump, loud enough to stir Rattigan. The gangster assumed the sound was his rescue party but as the door was unlocked and screeched open that hope turned to ash; in the doorway stood Finnick with a tranq pistol in one paw and a baseball bat in the other and on the fennec's shoulder was FruFru Big staring daggers at the rat.

"Well, well, this is a surprise." Rattigan smirked despite feeling panicked.

"Good evening professor." FruFru opened, climbing down from Finnick's shoulder and walking over to Rattigan's rodent sized hospital bed.

"So you heard the cops finally got me? Come to gloat?" Rattigan grinned, his jitters were starting to show.

"No, we came to settle the score." Finnick stated, his deep voice laced with menace.

"And what score is that?" Rattigan replied in a aloof manner, trying to mask his nerves.

"The massacre at my sister's grave; my father and two of our most loyal boys were killed by your organisation."FruFru reminded, trying her best to not appear angry.

"Ah, now that was Bellwether's doing not mine, yes she was part of mine and Madame Misdadd's organisation but I didn't order the kill." Rattigan explained hastily.

"Maybe you're telling the truth, maybe your not. The fact remains that your crew murdered Mr Big, Koslov and Raymond." Finnick said coldly, his grip on his baseball bat tightening.

"I had nothing to do with the massacre!" Rattigan snapped.

"You think that's the only reason we're here? No, you've committed another sin against my family." FruFru informed.

"What are you talking about?" Rattigan snarled.

"You know my sister died of an overdose, well I did some digging and found out who the dealer was, a little punk who worked for you." FruFru revealed.

"Hey it's not my fault your junkie sister couldn't handle my product." Rattigan spat.

"Why you mother fu-" Finnick began to shout.

"Finnick!" FruFru blasted, silencing her most loyal enforcer before turning back to Rattigan and saying "The fact is that your going to die tonight Padraic, but I'm going to give you a choice."

"A choice?" Rattigan scoffed, trying to act tough.

"You can either die violently like my father," FruFru offered before reaching into her suit jacket and producing a sheathed syringe full of liquid "or you can have a slow death by overdose by heroin, so what's it going to be?"

Rattigan could tell that they were both serious, he knew they meant to kill him but his survival instincts were kicking in and he hastily formed a plan; he'd choose the heroin and when FruFru came over to inject him he'd use his unbound left hand to grab her and hold her hostage, knowing Finnick would never risk his boss' life "Very well, I'll take the overdose." He said defiantly.

"Ok." FruFru smiled devilshly, putting the syringe away.

"Wait, what!?" Rattigan yelled.

"Finnick, would you kindly?" FruFru said formally.

"You bitch!" Rattigan bellowed

"With pleasure boss." Finnick rose his baseball bat above his head and brought it down with all the strength he could muster.

"NOOOOOO!" Rattigan wailed, his screams muted by the polished wood striking his body with force, breaking his bones, smashing his flesh, his left eyeball popped out of the socket as the bat connected with his face. Finnick was roaring with rage as he hammered down the bat again and again and again, speckles of the mobster's blood staining his suit as Rattigan's organs were forced out of his body, the mobster was already dead but Finnick just kept on hitting the rat until he was a unidentifiable mess of fur, flesh and blood. Finnick took a step back and panted "Burn in hell, asshole."

FruFru looked at the horrific scene with satisfaction and added tearfully "He's dead, Daddy, you can rest now."

000

Olivia had unlocked all the security protocols she had activated earlier in the day so Marian could access the computers. Marian immediately contacted Ray Kamino, the Camelot ace, to come to the bunker, she gave him instructions on how to access the bunker as well as a brief explanation of what was going on. Within thirty minutes Ray arrived. The white tiger was a little overwhelmed by the grand scale of the Bunker but soon became serious when he talked to Team Ceartais about the latest developments regarding The Drowned; that Phelps was funding them, that they had purchased child slaves and the plan for Ronin to infiltrate The Drowned's ranks and get the location of their main base but the team were also told of how Ronin was once captured by Hamada as a child and was forced into the life of an assassin, suffice to say all the faces in the Observation Deck of the bunker looked shocked at Ronin's origins.

"Only Alice can help us bring down The Drowned and rescue those children," Ray said with certainty "she has enough sway with Phelps to gain his trust."

"Children, why would they kidnap children?" Robin sr. mused, shuddering at the thought of these kids coming to harm.

"My bet is they'll be used as a bargaining chip, their lives in exchange for something. Having adult hostages wouldn't work but if they broadcast a kit with a gun to their head the authorties will have to give into their demands." Alice hypothesised, sitting beside Luna at the table.

"I hate to say it but it looks like we need you Ronin." Marian grumbled, sipping the tea Robin sr. had prepared.

"Nana, call her Alice." Luna urged.

"Not happening." Marian grunted

Luna was about to respond but was stopped by the gentle paw of Alice "It's fine." Alice assured.

Kion was looking at Alice with sad eyes, he didn't know how to feel about his supposed friend but there was one mammal who might understand how he was feeling "Ray I need to ask you something."

"Go ahead." Ray signalled.

"Do you trust Alice? Even after what she did to Kiara?" Kion asked, when Alice heard the question her guilt erupted in her heart again.

"Honestly? Yes." Ray answered, looking at the bunny.

"But she hunted your girlfriend, she was going to hand her over to Phelps." Olivia pointed out, still distrusting of the rabbit.

"That's true but me and Kiara have wronged her to, we left her for dead on a mission, she was attached to our unit and we left her behind in a firefight." Ray confessed "But the way I see it now is that we're even and if Alice can help bring down the Drowned, we can get Kiara back."

To say Kion felt conflicted was an understatement but he looked to Alice and spoke "If you help get my sister back, then I'll forgive you."

"I swear on my honour as a warrior that I'll do everything to help get your sister back." Alice promised.

"Ha! What a load of bollocks, we can't trust her." Olivia said snidely.

"Olivia come on, we've got to give her a chance." Kodi said, trying to be diplomatic.

"You're on her side now?" Olivia accused.

"I'm just saying if Luna and Ray trust her maybe we can too." Kodi reasoned.

" _Merci_ Kodi." Alice said with the smallest of smiles.

"So once Ronin completes her mission then what? She goes back to killing for a living?" Robin sr. questioned.

"No my contacts in the NSA have agreed to give Alice a clean slate along with US citizenship in return for helping us." Ray clarified.

"What? So just like that all the warrants out on her just disappear?" Marian complained.

"Didn't Jack and Skye give you a clean slate all those years ago?" Luna threw back.

"We were vigilantes, she's a damn assassin, there's a bit of difference." Marian parried.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I'm not going to get to enjoy my freedom." Alice spoke, her golden eyes sorrowful causing everyone to look at the bunny with confusion.

"What?" Luna mumbled "What do you mean?"

"The Yakuza know it was me who killed Hamada, there was a camera on the barge streaming back to Japan, they'll be coming for me." Alice said, unable to look Luna in the eye.

"What? What are you saying?" Luna asked, her voice cracking slightly.

"As soon as I complete my mission I'll have to leave Zootopia." Alice said, the words felt like glass on her tongue.

"No. No, we can fix this, we can help! We'll protect you!" Luna garbled with haste and worry.

"There is no fighting these mammals, they'll target everyone I care about to get to me. Jasiri, Kion and you. I won't let you get killed because of me." Alice forced.

"Alice…" Kion uttered, unsure of how to react.

"Which Yakuza clan did you piss off?" Robin sr. asked, knowing most underworld organisations from his time in Japan.

"The Mokusai clan." Alice answered, her body trembling slightly.

Robin sr. dropped the cup of tea he was holding and gasped "Mokusai?"

"You've heard of them?" Olivia asked with curiosity.

"Yeah, me and Little John had a run in with them back in the 90s…we barely escaped alive." Robin sr. remembered grimly, lifting up his shirt and pointing to a scar "They had this one amur leopard, she stabbed me right through the gut."

"Oni." Alice reacted "She was my master…and the closest thing I had to a mother."

"She was your master?" Robin sr. gawped "But why is she coming after you?"

"Oni's dead." Alice sighed "But they've got assassins more dangerous than her and they'll be coming to Zootopia."

"But that means…Karasushiro." Robin sr. spoke with fear.

"If you've heard of him you know why I have to leave, I won't let innocent mammals die for me." Alice uttered, a lone tear running down her cheek.

"Who's Karasus-whatever his name is?" Olivia probed.

"His name means White Crow, he's the world's highest ranked assassin." Ray answered "And if he's coming for Alice, then her running is the best option."

"No don't say that!" Luna snapped "Alice isn't going anywhere."

"Luna, believe if there was another way I'd stay." Alice sniffed, hating herself for crying in front of everyone "But I love you and don't want to see you get hurt."

"You won't because I'm going to help, Team Ceartais will help too!" Luna cried, taking hold of Alice by the shoulders.

"Hey don't get us involved!" Marian barked.

Kion shook his head before declaring "I'll help you Alice…even if things are weird right now, you're still my friend."

"Count me in too." Kodi chimed in.

Olivia let out a groan before submitting "Fine. I guess I owe you for helping me earlier."

"You…you want to help me?" Alice wept, hardly believing what she was hearing.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't like you but I do owe you." Olivia enforced.

"You…I can't let you do this, I can't let you put your lives on the line." Alice cried, her fear holding her back.

"Alice, look at me." Luna said, cupping her lover's face "I love you, I want us to have a future, I know you think you don't deserve to be happy but let us help you, you can have your happy ending if you just let us."

"Awww." Kodi sounded involuntarily as he watched the scene.

Alice was overcome with emotions, she knew she should feel afraid but for the first time since Hamada's barge she felt safe. The lapin hugged her vixen and breathed "Ok, we'll fight them together."

Robin sr. let out a very loud sigh before saying "I guess you can count on us too."

"But don't think for a second that we trust you or approve of you." Marian added bitterly.

"I understand." Alice nodded at the elder Wildes.

"Soooooooo," Kodi dragged "how do you think Robyn and Hannah are going to react?"

"One thing at a time, Kodi." Luna waved off, finding the prospect of revealing to her sister that she was dating her arch enemy extremely daunting.

000

Night fell upon Zootopia and of course Team Ceartais had to go on patrol, Alice had gone off to the Burst Pipe merc bar in Tundra Town hoping for contact from Phelps while Ray returned to the military base. Tonight was supposed to be Olivia's turn to go on patrol but Luna offered to take her place so the mouse could visit her boyfriend Blake who was still in the intensive care unit at Savanah Central General Hospital and so she could have a much needed talk with her Dads. Luna was paired up with Kion and the two heroes were sat on a rooftop in the populated part of Sahara Square enjoying a midnight feast of Thai food. Andraste was munching on some noodles while texting on her phone causing Kion to ask "Is it your mom?"

"Yeah, she was wondering if we stopped Olivia." She said with a full mouth.

"It's been a hell of a day." Kion sighed before taking a bite of his thai green curry, the lion was not in 'Roar mode' at the moment.

"Understatement of the year." Andraste concurred.

"Olivia was right though, your timing sucks." Kion chuckled.

"I know, but I couldn't hide it anymore." Andraste replied, taking her chopsticks and scooping up some more spicy noodles.

"I just can't believe Alice is Ronin, it's…weird." Kion tried to describe.

"I can't understand what you're going through, it must be hard." Andraste empathised.

"The logical part me of me is saying I should hate her for hurting Kiara but then the other part of me just sees my friend." Kion struggled "I know that the Alice I know isn't a lie, she is a little nerdy bunny not a monster."

"Yeah, I definitely prefer her geeky side but saying that the whole black leather assassin thing is kind of a turn on." Andraste joked.

"Oh come on, I don't want to know about your sex life, it's bad enough hearing you guys go at it below my apartment." Kion grimaced.

"You're one to talk, you and Jasiri are pretty loud as well, I swear you guys bang for hours at a time." Andraste teased.

"Stop talking please." Kion replied, totally embarrassed and looking away from the archer.

"But I've got to thank you." Andraste smiled warmly.

"Huh?" Kion sounded.

"You stood by me and Alice, despite everything that's happened." Andraste said with a vulnerable voice.

"Alice…Alice is far from perfect but she's trying to fix her mistakes, everyone deserves a second chance and if I can help with that, I will." Kion said truthfully.

"She's so scared, I've never seen her like that." Andraste worried out loud.

"But now she's got you and the rest of the team looking out for her, we can beat whoever is coming after her." Kion encouraged "You two deserve to be happy."

Andraste looked up at the big hearted feline and playfully punched him in the arm "Alice was right too, you are a big marshmallow."

"Quit it." Kion waved off with a bashful smile.

Suddenly both of their earpieces crackled into life " **Maid to Roar and Andraste, do you read?"** Marian asked over the comm link.

"Loud and clear Maid, what's up?" Kion responded.

" **An alarm's been tripped at a pharmaceutical warehouse two clicks north east of your location, I've tried to hack the camera but it looks like the lenses have been covered with spray paint."** Marian explained.

"We'll check it out." Kion replied, setting down his take out box and transforming into Roar "Let's go."

It didn't take long for Andraste and Roar to reach the warehouse, the two heroes perched themselves on a roof top and scoped the area; there were three vans all varying in size parked next to the now open roller shutter doors, with half a dozen mammals loading them up with boxes of stolen medicine while two other mammals guarded the vans both armed with assault rifles. Andraste spied that all the mammals were wearing armbands with the Drowned insignia on them "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with D." she crooned.

"Probably stockpiling drugs for their base." Roar guessed.

"This is perfect, we need to get Ray on the line he can track these vans back to the Drowned base." Andraste grinned.

"So we're just going to let them steal this medicine?" Roar asked dubiously.

"What's better? Some stolen drugs or finding the Drowned's hideout?" Andraste asked.

"Fair enough." Kion accepted, he was about to radio Marian back at the bunker but then a towering figure stepped out of the warehouse that caused him to freeze. It was Kiara, the Amazonian like lioness was taller than all the other mammals around her, she was wearing black shorts not unlike Kion's and her chest was covered with a matching workout vest, her bulging muscles and defined abs were on full display as was the Drowned armband tied onto her left arm, a stain on her snow white fur. "Kiara." Kion whispered, his body trembling, he hadn't seen in nearly six months and for the longest time he feared he'd never see her again.

"Roar?" Andraste sounded, unsure if the lion was about to do something rash.

Roar couldn't control himself he immediately jumped from the rooftop and in front of the Drowned's vans "Kiara!" Roar shouted

"Holy crap it's Roar!" A wildebeest gasped, nervously aiming his gun at the hero.

Roar held up my paws and announced "I just want to talk to Kiara."

"Kion you idiot." Andraste whispered, still in her hiding spot, she activated her comm and said "Andraste to Maid, get Camelot on the line right now."

Back on the ground, a confused looking Kiara brushed past the other Drowned cultists and snarled "You're like me?"

"Kiara it's me, your brother." Roar said anxiously.

"My name is Lilly." Kiara growled.

"No it's not, your name is Sgt Kiara Priderock." Roar forced "Come on you've got to remember."

"My name is Lilly, an instrument of the Wave's will." Kiara replied, showing her fangs.

"She's our champion!" A donkey cultist yelled.

"Kiara it's time to come home, everyone misses you; Mom, Dad, Ray. They want you home." Roar persuaded.

"R-Ray?" Kiara mumbled, the name made her feel a twinge in chest but it was soon followed by a sharp pain in her head causing her to growl loudly as she place one paw on her temple.

"Kiara?" Roar asked, sounding worried.

"My name is LILLY!" Kiara bellowed.

"Just come with me, I'll take you somewhere safe." Roar fretted, taking a step forward.

"Don't you lay a finger on her!" A female camel shouted, pointing the assault rifle at Roar.

Roar responded by snatching the rifle out of her hands and crushing it with one clench of his fist "Guns are useless against me anyway." He glowered at the camel.

Suddenly Roar felt a force grab his arm and before he knew it he was being thrown into the warehouse, the giant cat came to a halt when he crashed into a brink wall, there was a huge crack where his body had connected with it. In a daze he got to his feet and saw Kiara charging at him, he had no choice; he had to fight his sister. Roar steadied his nerves before letting out a war cry and charging at Kiara, not knowing if he could win.

(DUN DUN DUN! It's Brother VS Sister! Who Will Win? Will Alice be kept safe? How will Robyn react? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; It's the battle of the Priderocks! Alice and Jasiri talk things out and Robyn learns about the team's new 'Ally'. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	49. The Chain

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of SOC, super quick update because I'm quite ill atm and in a lot of pain. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 48- The Chain**

Roar managed to get the first punch in, he dodged Kiara's right hook and smashed his fist just above Kiara's cheek. Kiara let out a guttural snarl while Roar winced in pain; it actually hurt punching her, more than a brick wall or steel, it made sense since he had the same power set as her. However, Roar had one distinct disadvantage against his sister; Kiara was a special forces soldier who had close quarters combat training while Roar only knew how to throw a punch. Kiara took advantage at Roar's second of pain and slammed her foot down on his and just as he began to wail she connected her elbow with the underside of his chin slamming it shut, she then ended the combo by kicking him square in the abdomen, sending him crashing back into the already cracked brick wall of the warehouse.

"I've heard my Drowned brethren talk of you, you're of Ceartais." Kiara simmered, stepping over to the downed hero "Fuli offered you all friendship but you declined her offer of serving The Wave."

"K-Kiara, Fuli's messed with your head." Roar coughed, getting to his feet and getting into a fighting stance.

"You will not sway me, your so called moral society is deeply fractured, while me and my fellow Drowned are strong because we are united in our ideals." Kiara gave a smile that was creepily joyous, she actually believed what she was saying.

"Well your groupies didn't seem that strong to me." A smug sounding voice taunted from the warehouse entrance.

Kiara spun around to see the eight Drowned cultists in her squad we're all sprawled on the ground with tranq arrows sticking out of them, Andraste was stood among them with an explosive arrow drawn and aimed directly at the hulking lioness. "Another fool ignorant to the will of the Wave." Kiara barked.

"Kiara sweetheart, I think you've drank too much of the Kool-Aid." Andraste retorted, making sure to repeat Kiara's name, hoping it would trigger something in the soldier's broken mind.

"My name is Lilly." Kiara reminded curtly.

"No, you're name is Kiara-Easily Distracted- Priderock." Andraste sniggered.

Suddenly Roar's massive arms ensnared Kiara and he began to squeeze with all his strength, the lioness try to writhe free but couldn't escape, as Roar applied more and more pressure he yelled "Hit her with every explosive arrow you've got!"

A stream of worried thoughts streaked through Andraste's head but she only managed to get out the word "But-"

"Do it!" Roar bellowed, knowing he couldn't hold back his sister much longer.

"Argh, screw it!" Andraste grunted before letting her arrow fly, just as the first one stuck Kiara's abdomen and exploded with force of a grenade the archer had already drawn her next arrow, the second arrow hit and the sound of the blast barely masked Kiara's pain filled screams, then the third hit and lioness' cries grew weaker, the fourth struck and she was whimpering, the fifth arrow exploded and Roar didn't have to put so much strength into holding Kiara still and as the sixth one her body went completely limp.

Roar gently released Kiara, before laying her own the cold concrete, her fur and vest were a little singed from the barrage of blasts but her chest was rising and falling at a steady rate and no visible injuries could be seen "She seems ok." Roar sighed with relief.

"Oh my god." Andraste gawped, the vixen was looking at the base of Kiara's spine where the source of her power, the elixir drug pump, was grafted to her spine but it looked a lot more damaged than Roar's. It was heavily dented and scratched and old scorch marks stained the casing "I think I know why she can't transform back into her normal form, the elixir pump is broken."

"Can you fix it?" Roar asked, sounding uneasy.

Andraste lifted off the heavily damaged top plate off the pump to discover that one of the circuit boards had fried but the pump with the translucent fluid was still rushing through into Kiara's spine. "The electrics are all messed up, I don't want to touch it in case I do anymore damage, we need to get her back to the bunker so Olivia can take a look at it." Andraste summarised.

Roar's mouth was dry, he was partly fearful and partly relieved, he steadied his breathing and spoke "Ok get Maid to send Bella to our location, we can put-"

Roar's words were halted by a headbutt from a roused Kiara, Andraste backflipped away pulling out a freeze arrow from her quiver as she spun in the air despite knowing that the cryo fluid within wouldn't do anything to the giant lioness. Kiara grabbed Roar's mane with both hands and slung him into the heavily damaged wall but as soon as his body connected with the bricks the entire building started to shake. "Oh crap." Andraste mumbled, before racing for the large doors the walls and roof collapsed in on themselves but as bricks and steel rafters fell around Kiara she made no attempt to flee instead she was making her way over to Roar who was now blanketed with a wall of bricks.

Andraste barely escaped the warehouse before it collapsed, she looked back with relief to see none of the unconscious cultists were covered in debris only dust. The Archer took a step forward and called out "Roar? Kiara?"

Andraste got a reply in the shape of Kiara rising from the rubble like a zombie dragging itself out of a grave, the lioness' brown eyes were full of blood lust and locked on the vixen "MY NAME IS LILLY!" She squalled, she began to charge at Andraste with her sharps claws outstretched ready to tear her to ribbons. Without warning Roar sprung up from the rubble holding a huge steel girder in his paws before Kiara could even react he struck his sibling in the side with such strength she was lifted off the ground and flew into the sky before crash landing 200 metres away.

"I'll get her away from the populated zones, you be ready to provide sniper support!" Roar hollered before leaping into the air after Kiara.

"But I'm out of explosive arrows!" Andraste shouted after Roar, but he didn't hear her "Damn it." She muttered before chasing after the two giants.

Roar landed on the pavement with enough force to crack the concrete around him. He looked to where Kiara had crashed into, it was a wreckage of a fur salon. They were now in the disaster area of Sahara Square, which was still being cleaned up after The Wave. Kiara barged out of the fur salon with her eyes blazing with anger "How fitting that this is where we fight, where the Wave first cleansed Zootopia." She snarled.

"That's Fuli talking, not you. My big sister would never say something so eloquent, she was more blunt and crass." Roar poked, braced for another attack.

"I'm no one's…" Kiara uttered before whispering "Kion."

Even though it was only a whisper Roar heard it clearly and smiled "Yes, that's it, you do remember me!"

"I…don't know…" Kiara spoke, her eyes softening and head beginning to throb.

"I'm your little brother, I'm Kion." Roar enforced "Ok you don't have a favourite colour because you could never decide, every year on your birthday we'd go to the same Indian restaurant 'The Bombay Gardens', you joined the girl scouts at age seven and you've wanted to be in the army since you were eleven, you were the most trusted babysitter in the neighbourhood kids loved you because…"

"…I'd always bring Disney movies with me." Kiara completed the sentence, hissing slightly with pain

"See? You're starting to remember, please come home." Roar pleaded.

Kiara shook her head as if trying to shake off the pain in her head, her eyes focused on Roar once more and her voice hardened "You're trying to trick me, trying to take me away from my family."

"No, we just want you back." Roar spoke, his deep voice sounding vulnerable.

Kiara then inhaled deeply before letting out a mighty roar aimed at the hero of the same name, the red maned teen stumbled back by the sheer force of the sound.

"Damn it, Kiara!" Roar grumbled before taking a deep breath and releasing a earth shaking roar aimed at his sister.

Kiara noticed Roar had his eyes shut while roaring and took advantage. She charged at him, only slightly slowed down by the sound wave, she then lifted him up via a gore before running into, and through, wrecked building after wrecked building. Roar tried to break free but as he was used as a battering ram into wall after wall after wall his pain overcame his strength and he was screaming in agony. Eventually Kiara ran out of buildings to tear down using Roar and was on the beach of Sahara Square. She threw the hero like a ragdoll onto the beach and smirked slightly as she saw him just lay there moaning. Kiara was about to walk over and start pummelling on Roar but she noticed a large abandoned and rusty motorcycle, meant for a big mammal, and a wicked idea came into her head, she lifted the bike with one paw and sauntered over to her incapacitated opponent and started hammering the bike down on Roar. After five or six strike the motorcycle was unrecognisable, it just crumbled in Kiara's hand, she looked down at Roar with disgust, he was panting heavily and barely able to keep his eyes open "No one can resist the will of The Wave, even someone as strong as you." She spat.

Suddenly the sound of propellers hit Kiara's ears and it was getting closer, she looked in the distance to see a black shape approaching from the north west "Looks like time's up, but fear not I will give you a chance, the same chance all The Drowned are given." Kiara said, before grabbing Roar by his mane and dragging him over to the sea, where the gentle tide waited. Kiara dragged Roar just far enough out into the water before forcing him face down in the sea water "Can you last two minutes?" Kiara coaxed as Roar struggled and tried to escape his sister's grip.

Kiara didn't know how much time had past but Roar was growing weaker, she figured he'd be another failed initiation in a few moments, but she was going to keep using all her strength to hold the hero down until she was sure he was dead…that was until she heard a voice cry out "Kiara!"

Kiara immediately loosened her grip, the voice washed over her body like ice water, she tensed up and shivered, the voice was like salvation and damnation in the same breath. With her grip loosened Roar emerged from the water, weak and gasping for air, he crawled to the beach and flopped onto his back as his body tried to recover from the trauma. Kiara was frozen and afraid to turn around, she knew that the voice belonged to someone important to her but also someone she had forgotten.

"On your feet, soldier." The voice spoke again, but it wasn't an order the voice was encouraging her.

Kiara's body worked on instinct and she got to her feet, spun around and saluted the figure stood ten feet away; a broad shouldered white tiger in black combat fatigues with assault rifle laid on the sand to show he meant no harm. He saluted her back and smiled sadly "It's time to come home, beautiful."

Kiara was completely focused on Ray, she didn't even acknowledge the helicopter on the promenade and Zoe who was sticking close to the aircraft. "I…I know you." Kiara's voice trembled.

"Yes, yes you do," Ray spoke calmly, slowing walking over to the giantess "try and think of my name."

"R-Ray? It's Ray?" Kiara asked, it was a name her mind was screaming.

"That's right." Ray replied, taking slow steps towards his love "It's time to come back to base and debrief."

"Debrief?...My mission…" Kiara mumbled, her head starting to hurt again.

"Don't worry about the mission, all that matters is that you're ok." Ray eased, getting close enough to reach out and touch Kiara's paw, his paw was tiny in comparison to hers. Tears were in the airman's eyes as he looked up at his girlfriend and said "I've missed you so much, beautiful."

"I'm…I don't... who I am…it hurts Ray, why does it hurt?" Kiara asked, beginning to sob partly from her emotions and the other half the pain in her head.

"Easy there, it'll be ok, we're going to get you through this, I'll be with you every step of the way." Ray hushed, guiding Kiara's huge paw up to his face and nuzzling into it "I love you Kiara."

Then without warning Kiara pushed Ray away, but the force was enough to knock him down into the sand fifteen feet away, he landed with a grunt and looked back at Kiara whose face was once again angry, she extended her claws before bellowing "My name is Lilly!"

"No…" Roar said weakly, unable to stand.

Zoe had flow over to see if Ray was ok and hastily asked "What do we do sir?"

"Hold fire!" Ray hissed "You'll only make her angrier."

"I've had enough of your tricks!" Kiara belted out before galloping towards Ray and Zoe with murderous intent, then all of a sudden Kiara stopped in her tracks and cried out in immense pain "ARRGH!" her body started to convulse, her bloodshot eyes bulged and sounds of cracking bones could be heard, she collapsed face first into the sand to reveal a cryo arrow embedded in her elixir pump at the base of her spine, and stood next to exhausted Roar was Andraste with another cryo arrow at the ready.

"Kiara!" Ray yelled with worry, watching his lover fit on the floor as she wailed in anquish.

"What did you do!?" Zoe screamed at Andraste, fearing her friend was dying.

"Saved her life and yours." Andraste answered "I froze the fluid in her elixir pump, she should turn back to normal long enough to get that thing on her spine fixed."

Kiara let out a pained roar as she mass began to shrink and her fur return to it's natural golden hue, her once tight clothes now hung like bed sheets on her and by the time she finally transformed back to her normal form she had fainted from exhaustion. Andraste, Ray and Zoe rushed over, the vixen and the tiger turning the unconscious lioness on her side as to not dislodge the cryo arrow "We need to get her back to your base and get that pump fixed." Andraste said briskly.

Ray was overcome with emotion as he looked down at his girlfriend so Zoe answered "Right, let's get her in the chopper."

"I-I'll help." A bruised and battered Roar spoke up, hobbling over to the others.

"It's alright Kion, I've got this." Ray replied, gently scooping up Kiara and carrying her over to helicopter.

"You saved her." Zoe spoke to Andraste, sounding amazed.

"You sound surprised?" Andraste reacted, arching an eyebrow at the bat.

"Sorry, what I meant to say was 'Thank you'." Zoe corrected herself.

"Don't worry about it." Andraste brushed off.

"No, she's right." Roar cut it, looking down at the archer "Thank you."

Andraste look up at the tired and beaten Roar to see his brown eyes full of relief and happiness, she smiled up at her friend and said "You're welcome."

000

Kiara had arrived in the operating room at the North Howard Military Base just after 2am and by 7am came Ray. Kion and Zoe were told the news that the procedure was going to take a lot longer than previously thought due to the fact that Kiara had be in 'Elixir' mode for nearly six months when the recommended time was only two hours. Kiara's muscles and bones were severely damaged but no more than her spine. New bone had started to grow around the Elixir pump and had fused to her spine, making it more difficult to fix, when 11am passed the surgeons decided to call the inventor of Elixir pump herself; Olivia Dawson to see if she could solve the problem all the while Ray, Kion and Zoe were nervously waiting outside the operating room and they would be for hours to come.

Back in the city Luna was back at her penthouse and contacted Robyn and Hannah, giving them an update of the crazy 24 hours that had transpired back in Zootopia involving the capture of Rattigan and the rescue of Kiara. The two heroines were a little miffed that they were kept in the dark but Luna reasoned with them that she wanted them to enjoy Robyn's birthday. The two teens begrudgingly accepted Luna's apology causing the surgeon to move onto the next subject; she asked Robyn to bring Hannah, Nick and Judy to her penthouse because she had discuss something important with them, Robyn of course thought something was wrong but Luna eased her sister's worries by telling her that there wasn't anything wrong but she did need to come clean about something. When Luna hung up the phone she knew there was no going back, she was coming out and her family were finally going to meet Alice, the real Alice, not Ronin.

Coincidently, Alice was in Luna's penthouse at the moment also coming out to someone she cared about, not as pansexual but as an assassin. Luna peeked from the hallway into the spacious and luxurious living room where a tearful Alice was telling an enraptured Jasiri everything.

"So now you know, you finally know what kind of monster I am." Alice sniffed, the little otaku bunny was wiping her tears away on the sleeve of her favourite purple hoodie.

Jasiri, who was sat beside her on the sofa had been quiet the entire time Alice explained her story and all the bad stuff she had done, and her plan to help get the kidnapped children back from the Drowned. To say that it was a lot to take in would be a gross understatement, Jasiri had always seen Alice as a clumsy little nerd with no fashion sense and a big heart not an internationally wanted assassin. Jasiri was feeling confused and a little betrayed but she didn't feel scared of the bunny or any semblance of hate, all the spotted hyena felt was sympathy. She knew it was stupid to be thinking this way if someone had asked her three months ago before she met Alice about becoming best friends with a killer she would've laughed it off and dismissed it but now here Jasiri was, sat next to an assassin and wanting to do one thing. Jasiri opened her arms and invited "Come here, girl."

Alice didn't hesitate, she shot forward and hugged the hyena, crying into her shoulder "I'm sorry Jasiri." She sobbed.

"Hey now, don't be falling into that emotional bunny stereotype." Jasiri jested before softly saying "No matter what happens you'll always be my best friend."

Alice looked up at the larger mammal "Even after everything I just told you?" She asked with a quivering lip.

"I'm not going to lie, everything you just told me was heavy but I know you were forced into that life, you didn't choose it." Jasiri replied "Besides Kion forgave you and you got your 'Enemy' to fall in love with you, they see the real Alice."

"The real me?" Alice asked with confusion.

"Yes, the real you dummy, the little nerd who watches anime and plays way too many videogames, that's the real Alice Kirabito." Jasiri assured.

"So…we're still friends?" Alice asked, sounding unsure.

"Of course we are." Jasiri smiled.

" _Merci._ " Alice cried, hugging Jasiri tighter.

"Careful now, we don't want to make your girlfriend jealous." Jasiri grinned before turning and smirking at Luna in the hallway "Because I've got a feeling she's spying on us."

Luna stepped out and sheepishly said "Ok, you got me."

Alice was a little embarrassed to be caught crying again in front of Luna and promptly began to dry her tears as best she could "Don't look at me, I look awful right now."

"You look gorgeous." Luna cooed before saying "I've called my family, they'll be coming straight from the train station to here."

"So this is it? You're finally coming out to your family?" Alice asked nervously.

"Yeah, I mean Mom already knows but yeah I'm officially coming out." Luna answered, hardly believing she was saying the words.

"You scared?" Jasiri asked the vixen.

"Of coming out? A little. I'm more scared of how my sister will react when she learns I'm dating her nemesis." Luna laughed nervously.

"Say what now?" Jasiri asked back.

"Me and Luna's sister have a somewhat strained connection." Alice danced around the truth.

"Alice, you stabbed her in the liver and the eye the first time you met her." Luna added glibly.

"Yeah but she regenerated, she's kicked my ass and I haven't got fancy healing powers to fix myself up." Alice defended.

"Oh man I'd love to see that train wreck but I've got to go check on Kion." Jasiri reacted, standing up from the sofa.

"Isn't Kiara still in surgery?" Alice asked, standing up as well.

"She is but if I know my kitten he's probably not slept, showered or eaten so I'm going to bring him some stuff." Jasiri replied, her voice showing her concern for her boyfriend.

"Kitten?" Luna sniggered "Oh I'm going to get some mileage out of that one."

Jasiri gave a signature Hyena laugh before placing a paw on Luna's shoulder and saying "But seriously though, good luck with your family."

"Thanks, Jasiri." Luna smiled.

After Jasiri left Luna and Alice tidied the place up to make the penthouse presentable for when the Wildes plus Hannah arrived. Alice got changed out of her hoodie and sweat pants and into something a little more sociable and with the couple of hours that remained before Luna's family arriving the couple just sat and watched TV while cuddling. The time flew and before Luna knew it she got a text from Judy 'We're in a cab now heading to your place – Mom xxx'

"They're on their way." Luna said nervously.

"Right." Alice spoke, hopping off the sofa "I'll go hide in the bedroom and wait for your signal."

"This isn't a mission." Luna chuckled.

"Oh I have a mission; not getting beat up by Robyn." Alice replied, her ears going droopy.

"It'll be ok, we're going to face this together." Luna rallied her love and herself, crouching down and kissing Alice deeply.

After a dozen or so seconds the kiss ended and Alice spoke in a breathless voice " _Jet'aime."_

"I love you too." Luna replied, adding an extra peck to Alice's cheek before the lapin trotted off to hide in the bedroom.

Luna was now alone and anxious in her living room with negative and worrying thoughts swirling in her mind, she needed to focus and prepare for the difficult conversation that lay ahead. The vixen spied her violin case resting against the bookcase and the solution to her frantic thoughts presented itself, she picked up her case and retrieved her violin and bow, tuning it at she walked over to the open balcony. Luna rested the violin under her chin and glided her bow across the strings and began to play a piece she mastered at just age five; Vivaldi's Four Seasons, it wasn't particularly difficult for her but was always fun to play.

Playing this classical piece of music always gave Luna fond memories of her birth mother Victoria. She remembered the first time she played it at a school recital and seeing her mommy looking at her with love and pride. Luna closed her eyes and envisioned Victoria's face, feeling more at ease instantly, she wondered if she was looking down on her at this moment, cheering her on to tell her family the truth.

Luna was so caught up in the music that she failed to notice the elevator door to her penthouse had opened and in strolled her parents along with Robyn and Hannah. All four of them were grinning at the distracted vixen and it took Nick saying "Bravo Kiddo." to snap her out of her musical daze.

Luna stopped playing, looked at her family and gave an embarrassed smile "Oh, hey guys." Putting her violin back in it's case before strolling over hugging her dad and kissing him on the cheek "Thanks for coming over."

"No problem, if I can avoid city hall for a few more hours I'm grateful." Nick half joked.

Luna then went to Judy and repeated the same hug and kiss greeting before asking "Did you give Aunt Heather the message about the Charger?"

"Don't worry, I told her that Olivia's PA is dropping the car back to Bunnyburrow tomorrow then getting the train back to the city." Judy assured.

Luna then went to the teenage sweethearts and pulled them into a group hug before apologising "Sorry for keeping you two in the dark, I just wanted you to have a good time."

"Olivia's safe and so is Kiara, that's all that matters." Hannah replied, hugging the vixen back and noticing a familiar scent but she couldn't quite place it.

"I guess I can't be mad at you, I did have a great birthday." Robyn smiled.

"So..." Nick cut in, eager to know what caused this summons "What's this news you wanted to tell us?"

"Right, uh, why don't you all take a seat?" Luna replied, motioning over to the sofa, her nerves were already showing.

Everyone bar Judy shared a confused look and shrug before sitting down on the large and expensive sofa. "Is everything ok, Lu? Did something bad happen?" Robyn asked, sounding worried.

"No, nothing bad. This is good news." Luna told her sister and herself.

"Oh god, you're pregnant!" Nick gasped, jumping to the wrong conclusion.

"You're pregnant?!" Robyn and Hannah squealed with delight.

"I'm NOT pregnant!" Luna answered forcefully before letting out a tired sigh "Jesus."

"Oh thank god, I'm too young to be a grandpa." Nick breathed, clutching his paw to his chest.

"Nick you'll be fifty on your next birthday." Judy chuckled before looking to her eldest kit and smiling "Go ahead sweetie, tell us your news."

"Ok here it goes," Luna said before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and saying way to quickly "I'm Bi!"

There was a lull of silence after the very sudden confession, Luna peeked one eye open to see her family's reaction; Judy who already knew was just smiling softly at her, Nick was also smiling but he also look relieved as if he was expecting something bad and as for Robyn and Hannah well they were just grinning from ear to ear and looked like they were about to burst with happiness. Luna looked at the teenagers and sounded "Um, girls?"

Robyn leapt from her seat and ensnared her big sister in a hug "Oh, Lu, you big idiot. You've been holding onto this for a while haven't you?" she asked in happy voice.

But before Luna could answer Nick joined the hug "That mustn't have been easy to tell us kiddo, you're really brave." He said, accepting Luna's sexuality without a second thought, he was happy as long as both of his girls were happy.

"Thank you." Luna whispered while pulling back from the hug, she knew she had nothing to fear about coming out, she was after all from a very liberal family but it was nice to have not conformation.

"Damn, for a lesbian I have zero gaydar." Hannah laughed before getting up and hugging Luna "I thought you were 100% hetero."

"So did I." Luna laughed nervously "But then I found someone who changed all that."

Nick looked at Judy and noted that his wife was wearing a satisfied smile but didn't seem at all surprised so he asked "You knew didn't you, carrots?"

Judy gave a sly smile and answered "I may or may not have rumbled Luna a couple of months ago."

"Wait, seriously?" Robyn asked her mom.

"Ask Luna." Judy nodded at the vixen.

Luna then answered timidly "Mom kind of smelt my girlfriend's mark on me."

"You have a girlfriend?!" Robyn asked excitedly.

"Wait, Judy could smell your girlfriend?" Hannah asked, a little perplexed, the striped hybrid herself could smell an oddly familiar scent on Luna.

"Well I am dating a rabbit, so Mom should know what one smells like." Luna revealed.

"Whoa, you're inter too? Like Father like Daughter." Nick gave a surprised chortle "Guess liking rabbits is a fox thing."

"Never mind that, I want to know all about her." Robyn chirped happily.

"Well, um, she's just in the other room. I kinda' wanted to tell you the news before I introduced her." Luna answered, wondering how long Robyn's happy mood would last.

"Well bring her out, we want to meet her." Nick said, getting caught up Robyn's happy spirit.

"Ok," Luna gulped before calling out "Alice, it's ok to come out now."

A few moments later a rather skittish looking white bunny doe emerged from the hallway, her golden eyes soaking up the happy faces of Luna's family. Luna cleared her throat before introducing way too formally "This is Alice Kirabito, my girlfriend."

" _Bonjour."_ Alice greeted with a small wave.

Nick was the first to respond by walking over and offering a handshake "Nice to meet you Alice, I'm Nick."

"A pleasure to meet you Monsieur Wilde." Alice replied, shaking Nick's paw.

"Ah, ah, ah, it's Nick." Nick corrected.

"Sorry, Nick." Alice responded.

Robyn couldn't contain her glee any longer and practically shoved Nick out of the way so she could meet Alice "Hi I'm Robyn, Luna's sister." She smiled, taking hold of Alice's paws.

"I know, Luna talks about you a lot." Alice smiled awkwardly.

"Oh and this my girlfriend Hannah." Robyn motioned to her love who already had her paw outstretched.

"I've heard a lot about you as well." Alice said to Hannah, beyond surprised that 'Bullet' was in fact blind.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." Hannah said with unease, the recognisable scent coupled with the sound of Alice's voice were triggering alarms in Hannah's mind but she couldn't figure out why.

"And you've already met me." Judy chimed in "But it's nice to meet properly."

"Likewise Chief – I mean Judy." Alice corrected herself.

"There's no need to be so nervous." Judy eased the fellow lapin's nerves but was unable to shake off the sense that she had met Alice before the book store incident.

"Sorry, it's just I've been really anxious about today." Alice responded, nervously playing with one of her ears.

Luna could see Alice's nerves mirrored her own and instinctively wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist and pulled her closer into a hug before kissing Alice atop of her head, the two lovers shared a look of trepidation, knowing this whole 'Coming out' thing was far from over. Nick saw this and had to suppress his overprotective nature, he didn't know anything about this bunny so he'd have to do some digging "So how did you two meet?" he probed.

"Through work." Luna dodged.

"Oh so you work at the hospital too?" Robyn asked with curiosity.

"No we met through Luna's other job." Alice revealed, feeling Luna tense up as soon as she said it.

Hannah's fur stood on end instantly, she had connected the dots; the scent, the voice, the fact that Alice had met Luna though her 'Other job' and of course that she was a rabbit, this was Ronin. Hannah's mouth went dry as the others continued to ask questions, completely oblivious to revelation. "Wait, you mean…" Judy mumbled.

"We met while I was Andraste." Luna clarified, psyching herself up to weather the inevitable storm.

"Seriously? Holy crap, did you rescue her or something?" Robyn asked, gawping with disbelief.

"Um, Princess?" Hannah uttered, taking a cautious step and putting herself between Robyn and Alice.

"Babe?" Robyn asked, confused.

"Nick, Judy, could you do me a favour and hold Robyn back?" Hannah requested, raising her cane like a weapon.

"What?" Judy asked, scrunching her face up in confusion with Nick giving a similar look.

"Just trust me on this." Hannah said, her voice becoming steely.

"Why do I need to be held back?" Robyn asked with suspicion as Nick and Judy grabbed onto her arms.

"Here we go." Luna uttered, holding tighter onto Alice.

"Ok I'm confused, what's going on here?" Nick called out this ridiculousness.

"Robyn, you've met Alice a few times before." Hannah spoke, all of her attention on the jittery bunny.

"What? When?" Robyn asked twice, growing more and more confused.

Alice decided to bite the bullet and spoke "For everything I did to you, I am truly sorry, Scarlet."

Robyn was left confused until Alice spoke the name of her alter ego 'Scarlet' the way Alice said it felt like a red hot poker being jabbed into her chest, that voice belonged to only person she knew, a mammal for whom she nothing but contempt and rage "You!" Robyn seethed, immediately lunging forward and being barely held back by her parents.

"Robyn!" Nick yelled half in shock, half in anger. Using all of his strength to hold Robyn back but his feet were being dragged along the carpet.

"What the heck is wrong with you!?" Judy shouted, her muscles straining to drag back her youngest kit.

"I'm going to tear that skank apart!" Robyn barked, her fangs bared and eyes narrowed.

"Sis, cool it!" Luna shouted.

"Luna tell me this is a joke." Hannah spat, sounding more disappointed than shocked.

"It's no joke, me and Alice are together." Luna declared which only seemed to make Robyn angrier.

Robyn looked at her parents struggling to keep her back and snarled "You know I'm holding back right? So let go before I use my super strength to toss you off me."

Judy didn't take kindly to the threat and countered "Try it and see what happens! Now stop this nonsense so we can sit down and talk."

Robyn eased off a little and tried to reply with a "But-"

Judy was so confident her counter threat worked she let go of Robyn, snapped her fingers, pointed at the sofa and commanded "Sit down, young lady."

Robyn stopped struggling immediately and begrudgingly sat down on the sofa with her eyes locked on Alice. Nick who was now out of breath from holding Robyn back just wheezed "Oh god, I'm out of shape."

Judy then looked at Luna and Alice and said briskly "Care to explain what the hell that was all about?"

It took nearly an hour to explain everything; how Luna and Robyn had met Alice, how Luna and Alice became a couple and how Alice was now working on behalf of the US government. Suffice to say, Robyn was not swayed by this new info, she had screamed, ranted and raved multiple times through Luna and Alice's story and by the time the tale was finished Robyn's anger hadn't cooled it had increased. "This a total crock of shit!" Robyn blasted.

"Language, missy." Nick warned while trying to process everything he had just been told.

"Look I know you're not happy about this but it's happening, Alice and I are in love." Luna stuck to her guns.

"For goodness sake Luna…I mean, you expect us to just accept this?" Hannah said, she wanted Luna to be happy but couldn't let go of what she did to Robyn.

"No, I figured this would be your reaction, but I was tired of hiding." Luna answered honestly.

Judy who had been silent through most of the conversation looked to Alice and asked "Alice I'm going to ask you two questions and I want you to answer honestly."

Alice who was still taking shelter in Luna's embrace gave a uneasy sounding "Alright."

"Are you sorry for hurting Robyn?" Judy asked sternly.

" _Oui."_ Alice replied in a flash.

Judy looked to Nick who just nodded back at his sly bunny, Judy then turned back to Alice and asked her second question "Do you really love my kit?"

Alice was silent for a second, glimpsing into Luna's amber eyes before declaring "With all of my heart."

Judy then looked at Nick again who sighed "She's telling the truth."

"Mom, Dad, I know this isn't the ideal situation but I can't help who I fall in love with, I mean you two understand that better than anyone, right?" Luna asked anxiously.

"This situation is way different, baby girl." Nick replied, feeling torn before announcing "Bottom line is I don't trust Alice and after hearing what she did Robyn I actually hate her."

"Dad…" Luna uttered with tears in her eyes.

Judy let out a tired sigh before walking over to Luna and Alice and saying "I'm…I'm happy for you two."

"What!?" Robyn snapped.

"Look, is this situation messed up? Of course, it is. But despite everything these two have found one another and are in love." Judy argued "Yes, Alice was a criminal but she's working for the good guys now, we can't just dismiss that, everyone deserves a second chance."

"…I can't forgive you." Hannah said to Alice "I want to, I want to see you and Luna be happy but I can't forgive you for what you did to Robyn."

"…I understand." Alice replied, feeling the burning hatred in Hannah's voice.

"How could you do this? How could you do this to your own sister!?" Robyn shrieked at Luna.

"Look, it just happened ok?" Luna tried to reason with her raging sister, tears rolling down her face.

"You know what? Why am I even here? I don't have to stay here and listen to your lame excuses." Robyn sniped, getting up from the sofa and marching to the elevator with Hannah following close behind.

"Robbie please!" Luna begged.

Robyn repeatedly pressed the elevator call button while snarling "Don't even talk to me, Luna."

Luna rushed over and put a paw on her sister's shoulder and pleaded "Just stay so we can talk this out, we're sisters, we shouldn't be fighting like this!"

"We're HALF sisters!" Robyn barked back

"Robyn!" Nick and Judy gasped, never thinking Robyn would say such a thing.

"Princess, that was a little harsh." Hannah cautioned.

"No, it wasn't, this is harsh…" Robyn growled as glared at her sister and said with unhinged anger "You're only my half sister, my Mom isn't even your Mom and I bet your own Mother is looking down at you and thinking what a disappointment you are."

Nick, Judy, Alice and Hannah all shared a very audible gasp, knowing full well those words hurt more than any punch to the face. Luna who despite crying heavily snarled "Take that back!"

"What's the point? It's already out there." Robyn replied as the elevator door opened, she walked in and added "I don't want to see your face while your dating that bitch beside you."

Nick was bubbling with anger himself and began to shout "Robyn, you apologise this sec-"

But the mayor was cut off by Luna roaring "Don't you dare call Alice a bitch!"

"Ronin. Is. A. Bitch." Robyn repeated, emphasising each word.

Judy latched onto Luna and soothed "She's just angry, she doesn't mean it, I'm your Mom and you're my little girl, no matter what."

"Robyn, you can't leave it like this." Hannah urged, hating the fact the usually close sisters were fighting so bitterly.

"Yes I can, now are you coming or not?" Robyn said to Hannah and her parents.

"Robyn! Don't be angry at Luna, she doesn't deserve it." Alice said, stepping forward "Aim that anger at me."

Robyn looked down at the smaller mammal and shot her paw forward, grabbing the collar of Alice's hoodie and said with utter spite "I'd kill you if I could, but then I'd be just be bad as you." Before tossing Alice against the wall, but thanks to the swordswoman's reflexes she bounced off it and landed with grace next to the sobbing form of Luna.

"You guys coming?" Robyn asked her parents.

Nick and Judy who were both tending to the distraught Luna glared at their youngest kit with Judy promising darkly "We'll talk to you when we get home."

"Fine." Robyn dismissed, with Hannah next to her.

As the elevators closed Hannah let out a small but heartfelt "Sorry." Leaving behind a scene of sadness and emotional carnage, the bond of family feeling more strained than ever.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Robyn has made her feelings VERY clear! What did you guys think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC... The fallout from the Wilde Sisters fight begins, Alice gets some comforting words from an unlikely source, Nick and Alana discover something disturbing at city hall and Kiara wakes up. Please review and c ya soon...now I'm off to bed cos' Im feeling rubbish.)


	50. Against All Odds

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/ Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais and this one is the longest one yet. I'm actually surprised I got this chapter done, I've been pretty sick over the last 9 days and I'm still not 100% but this fic helped me forget about feeling like garbage. Part of this chapter was written by Dev team member Senny so thank you dude for helping out and thank you to the rest of the team for helping me develop ideas and Beta reading this chapter. As always I want to thank the lovely folks who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter. Review are really appreciated as they give the drive to keep writing. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 49- Against all odds**

Nick Wilde walked into city hall on Tuesday morning still emotionally exhausted from the events of yesterday. He didn't even do his usual moan about his bodyguard Ben being too close to him. Nick was way too lost in his own thoughts to worry about the overprotective dingo; instead he was focused on the argument between his two daughters and honestly, he didn't know which side he should be on. On the one hand, Robyn was left feeling betrayed after finding out Luna was in a relationship with Alice, a mammal who had both physically and psychologically messed the hybrid up, and it was for this fact alone that Nick neither liked nor trusted Alice. But on the other hand, Luna was now honest with herself and everyone else by coming out and finding someone she had a genuine connection with. Nick knew Alice was repentant but that didn't change his mind on the bunny however Judy's argument that she was now working for the good guys and that 'Everyone deserves a second chance' was also an annoyingly right factor. But there was one part of the argument he whole heartedly disagreed with; Robyn use of the term 'Half Sister' and bringing Luna's departed birth mother, Victoria, into the argument. It was a step too far and Nick actually felt ashamed of Robyn for using such a low blow.

It took Nick, Judy and Alice nearly half an hour to calm the bawling Luna down with all of them saying reassuring words like 'She didn't mean it', 'Robyn was just lashing out' and 'You two will make up' but it didn't make much difference to the heart broken vixen. When Nick and Judy left Luna's penthouse she was curled up on the sofa with her head on Alice's lap. The French lapin promised to take care of Luna, a promise Nick knew she would keep and was actually grateful for. By the time Nick and Judy arrived home Robyn had left a note saying that she was heading to the bunker to go train before going on patrol, likely to let out some aggression on a punching bag and to avoid a heated argument with her parents. And after they thought the day couldn't get any crazier the couple turned on the TV to see on ZNN that Professor Rattigan had been murdered in his hospital bed while under police guard, suffice to say Judy and Nick were already missing Bunnyburrow. Nick knew he and Judy couldn't solve this fight between their daughters on their own, they'd need help and it pained Nick to reach out, he texted his parents and asked them if they could drop by city hall first thing on Tuesday morning, Nick got a reply moments later agreeing to meeting.

And so as soon Nick walked up the stairs to the floor his office was on, he spotted his anxious looking parents sitting on the couch outside. Robin sr. was dressed like a normal mammal in his mid-sixties wearing a conservative dark green sweater and brown trousers while Marian was dressed the same way she did as a teenager, donned in a Misfits t-shirt, black jeans and her signature leather jacket. They spotted their only child approaching them and they both stood up, their paws linked and wearing matching apprehensive expressions "Nick." Robin sr. spoke up first.

Nick didn't let his emotions show and gave a plain sounding "Thanks for coming." Before stepping past them to open the office doors for his parents, who quietly scurried in. Ben was about to follow in but Nick blocked the doorway and said "Sorry, Ben this is a family matter, you'll have to wait outside."

"Very well, sir." Ben replied, moving to the side of the door and standing like a sentinel.

Nick closed the door and turned around to see his parents hadn't taken a seat, rather they were still standing up and too nervous to take the next step. Nick didn't want to do the awkward small talk, instead he told them how he really felt "Me and Carrots are still mad at you."

"We get that." Marian replied, gripping her husband's hand a little tighter.

"But…but we miss you." Nick confessed.

"You do?" Robin sr. asked, a little shocked.

"The Bunnyburrow trip wasn't the same without you," Nick elaborated "part of me still wants you to stay the hell away."

"And the other half?" Marian asked with hope.

Nick answered by taking a few steps forward and embraced his parents in a bittersweet hug, despite feeling rage at what his parents had done he couldn't let go of the love he felt for them.

"Oh my little kit." Marian reacted, holding back her tears.

"We missed you too, son." Robin sr. confided, hugging Nick back "And Judy, too."

Nick pulled back from the hug and clarified "Things won't go back to normal right away, it'll be weird for a while but if you can help sort out this mess between the girls me and Fluff would appreciate it."

"You mean the whole thing surrounding Ronin?" Marian huffed "Honestly I don't know what Luna's thinking shacking up with that little demon."

"Look I'm not a fan of Alice either but her and Luna love each other and it's going to happen with or without our support." Nick said diplomatically "Our main problem is making peace between Luna and Robyn. Do you guys know what happened yesterday?"

"Only that Luna came out to you guys, introduced Ronin, Robyn wasn't happy about and she stormed out." Robin sr. recalled, refusing to call Alice by her real name.

"Hannah filled us in on what happened when Robyn marched into the bunker and headed straight to the gym, we tried to talk to her about it but she kept her mouth shut." Marian summarised.

"So you don't know what words Robyn said to Luna?" Nick asked, wanting to be sure before he repeated them.

"No, why?" Robin sr. asked sounding suspicious.

Nick gave a heavy sigh and shook his head then said "Robyn said some stuff that hit way below the belt."

"Such as?" Marian pressed, her voice growing sterner.

Nick took a few steps towards his desk and leaned on it before revealing "She stated that her and Luna were only 'Half' sisters, that Judy was not Luna's mom and that Victoria would be disappointed in the mammal she had become."

"She said that?" Robin sr. asked, more saddened than angry.

"Yeah," Nick nodded "and Robyn said she didn't want to see Luna's face again as long as she was dating Alice."

Marian was not good at masking her emotions, the anger on her face was easy to see. Marian had been disappointed in Luna for her choice in a lover but she was furious with Robyn for using such hurtful words. "That girl is in a world of trouble." Marian simmered.

"Now, now, my love, she probably said them out of anger." Robin sr. tried to appease.

"I don't care if she said them while she had her paw in a raging fire, Robyn was not raised that way!" Marian parried, letting her fangs show.

"So you'll help?" Nick asked, already knowing the answer.

"Give me a day and I'll have Robyn begging for forgiveness." Marian promised.

All of a sudden the doors to the office burst open with the stressed looking deputy mayor, Alana Clearwater, rushing in with a file clasped in her hoof and speaking at top speed "Nick I know you're in a meeting but you really need to see this."

"Alana, what's the matter?" Nick asked, detecting the urgency in the deer's voice.

"Um, am I ok to talk in front of your folks?" Alana asked looking at the older foxes, sounding uncharacteristically jumpy.

"It's fine, now tell me what's got you so worked up?"Nick pressured.

Alana opened the file and passed a piece paper to the waiting paw of Nick while saying "So I was going over the federal budget to see if they were paying their fair share for the uptake of the city, but then I noticed which security company they hired to guard all the weather control plants in the city."

Nick read the memo and mumbled "Who the heck is P.S.S?"

"Phelps security services, that crooked bastard offered the federal government the lowest rate, his company is actually losing money guarding the plants in Zootopia. Something's fishy here." Alana told, certain her gut feeling was right.

"Son of a bitch." Nick gasped, now in the knowledge that Phelps was one of The Drowned thanks to Luna's explanation the day before.

"We need to get this information to Team Ceartais." Robin sr. said firmly.

"Huh? Why do Ceartais need to know about this?" Alana asked, confused by the suggestion and by the fact Nick's father was saying this.

"Alana, there's some stuff about Eustice Phelps you need to know about." Nick said, looking up at the deputy mayor.

000

Robyn was doing her best to avoid the entire 'Luna and Ronin' situation. She didn't want to talk about it or confront it, despite how many times her friends tried to get her to open up about it. Yesterday she went straight to the gym and worked out for five hours straight before going out on patrol, after a night of beating the snot out of criminals she didn't go home instead she stayed in the sleeping quarters of the bunker and when she woke up around 11 am. She ate a breakfast of potato chips and a energy drink before finding Kodi tinkering with Bella's engine. The ginger hybrid was about to help out the wolf when the secure elevator door opened and the shrill of "ROBYN HEATHER WILDE!" echoed through the team's base.

Robyn and Kodi's eyes snapped to the elevator and could see a furious Marian stomping towards her with a fretful Robin sr. following in her wake. Kodi looked at the Wilde matriarch and mumbled to Robyn "You're dead."

"Crap." Robyn whispered as her ears went droopy, figuring her grandparents must've learned the full details of her and Luna's fight, the ginger furred hybrid walked towards to Marian with her paws raised, while saying "Nana, before you say anything…"

But Robyn never got to finish her sentence instead Marian sidestepped her youngest granddaughter and grabbed the tips of both her long rabbit like ears before dragging her towards the armoury "You and me need to have a little chat." Marian said, her voice steaming.

"Nana! Ow! Lemme' go!" Robyn whined, it hurt to pull back from Marian so she was dragged along.

As the two Wilde women disappeared into the armoury to a slew of curse words, Kodi and Robin sr. were left speechless in the main atrium. Kodi looked to Robin sr. and asked "You're not going to join them?"

"Do I look suicidal?" Robin sr. replied rhetorically.

Once Marian was about six feet into the armoury she let go of Robyn, who immediately took hold of her sore ears and hissed "Damn it Nana, that really hurt."

"You're lucky I'm not dusting off my batons and beating your arse, girl." Marian sniped,

"So let me guess? Luna came crying to you like a baby?" Robyn asked in a snarky voice.

"I haven't seen Luna since Sunday, no it was your Dad who told me." Marian answered, despite being shorter than Robyn her pose and demeanour made her way more intimidating.

"You and Dad are talking again?" Robyn asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Don't change the subject." Marian warned "Now is what your Dad saying true? That you called Luna your half sister? That Judy isn't her Mom? And that Victoria would be disappointed in her?"

Robyn knew there would be consequences to her answer but she said it anyway "It's not my fault Luna can't handle the truth."

Marian had to use all her mental strength to hold back her paw from slapping her granddaughter instead she took a step closer to Robyn and said in frosty voice "I've never been more disappointed in you."

"Me? What about Luna? She's got an assassin for a girlfriend? An assassin who's pretty much tortured me!" Robyn shifted the blame.

"I don't like Ronin either, I don't trust her and I probably never will but you went after Luna." Marian accused.

"She deserved it! She knew how much this would hurt me and she did it anyway." Robyn barked.

"You really think Luna began a relationship with Ronin just to spite you?" Marian asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"…No." Robyn hated to admit "But she must've known I wouldn't like it."

"I'm sure she did but we all know that love is out of anyone's control, Luna fell in love with Ronin and she can't help that." Marian parried.

"But how? How could Luna even look at Ronin that way after what she did to me?" Robyn ranted.

"Do you think it was easy for Luna? She's been living with this secret for two months and told no one because she was scared of what everyone would think." Marian threw back.

"Luna was right to be scared, we all hate Ronin." Robyn snarled.

"Did you even stop to listen about how Ronin saved Luna's life?" Marian asked sharply.

"What?" Robyn asked back, her tone not softening.

"A few days after she split up with Aleks, Luna went on patrol and came across a jackal couple who had just been mugged, the guy's bleeding out, Luna goes to help but it was a trap. They paralysed her with a drug and tried to kill her," Marian told "if Ronin hadn't shown up Luna would be dead."

"And I'm supposed to be thankful to that bitch?" Robyn asked stubbornly.

"That she saved your sister's life, yeah you should be." Marian answered, equally as stubborn "And another thing; how dare you call Luna your half sister!"

"She is though." Robyn simmered.

"Now you listen to me girl; the moment Luna laid eyes on you she didn't see a half sister, she saw her sister, someone who she instantly loved, who she would protect, guide and most importantly be her friend. There's no half measures in the love Luna has for you." Marian declared.

"If she loves me then why did she start dating the mammal I hate most on this planet?" Robyn asked, refusing to back down.

Marian took a moment before answering "I've been thinking a lot about that myself and honestly I think it's because they're alike."

"How are those two alike?" Robyn asked, scoffing.

"You were told about Ronin's childhood, you know what that rabbit went through. I think you forget that Luna's life hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows." Marian answered "At age six she had to live through Victoria slowly fading away to cancer before dying in front of her eyes, getting kidnapped by Bellwether, watching Judy shoot herself, losing your three litter mates and then I go make things a million times worse by dragging her into Ceartais and we all know how that turned out."

"What's your point?" Robyn asked, beginning to feel the annoying sting of guilt.

"My point is Luna isn't the perfect socialite surgeon she wants mammals to see, she's broken and the only mammal who really understands that trauma is someone who's had her own share of hardships. I don't like the fact that Luna and Ronin are together but I can't deny that they are good for one another, that they love each other and whether we like it or not that love isn't going to die." Marian spoke with sincerity.

Robyn was grinding her teeth over the fact that Marian was right but her tenacity was keeping her defiant "So what now? You going to make me apologise?" Robyn bristled "Well it's not happening."

"I'm not going to anything, I'm leaving the next step to you." Marian said dismissively, heading for the armoury exit "But here's something you should ask yourself; is your pride worth more than your sister?"

As Robyn watched her grandmother walk out the door she did her best to keep her emotions in check, but balancing her anger, guilt and confusion could only last a few seconds and an anger laced yell and slammed her fist into the wall, leaving a dent in the metal and sending some weapons clattering to the ground off the racks.

000

In the Camelot hangar of the North Howard Military Base the mood was sombre, Sgt Kiara Priderock was back with them but not how they wished. Kiara's surgery to repair the elixir pump had been a complete failure and the only option left for the surgeons was to remove the pump entirely rendering Kiara paralysed from the waist down, she'd never walk again. The lioness hadn't woken up yet, her body still recovering from transforming back to normal after being in elixir mode. But everyone was now worried about what would happen when she actually woke up, if she would remember anyone? How she would react to being paraplegic? And then there was the rumour swirling around that she should be charged with terror offenses and sent to god knows where.

Every member of the Camelot unit was busying themselves with either exercise or daily tasks to distract from the news that they had received. Ray was trying to be a good soldier and go about his business but the pain in his eyes was clear as the stripes on his fur, once he had finished cleaning his guns he spotted his loyal subordinate Zoe flapping around the computer terminals in the corner of the hangar, the flying fox had be combing over all the intel Camelot had gathered on the Drowned since Kiara got out of surgery. Ray walked over and could see Zoe's tired eyes pouring over data that she had looked at dozens of time before "Nightfall, you ok?" Ray asked, his voice gentler than usual.

"I'm fine sir, just going over some old data, just in case we missed something." Zoe replied, not even looking at Ray.

Ray looked at the map data on screen and sighed "Nightfall, that intel is nearly two months old, it's not reliable."

"But if I can trace all Drowned sightings and incidents in Tundra Town and Sahara Square maybe I can get an estimate of where the Drowned are coming from." Zoe made an excuse, fixing her glasses.

"The NSA already did that and turned up nothing." Ray reminded "Zoe I think you need to get some rest."

"I can't rest." Zoe answered sharply, typing on her bat-sized keyboard.

"Do I have to order you to rest, Corporal?" Ray reacted.

"You pulling rank on me?" Zoe asked in a moody voice, finally looking up at the white tiger.

"I don't want to, but if you make me I will." Ray warned "Now you've been going over this old data for hours, mind telling me why?"

Zoe looked away from Ray and grumbled "I need to do something, we've been useless so far."

"Useless?" Ray repeated, signalling Zoe to explain further.

"We didn't get Kiara back, it was Ceartais. We didn't stop The Drowned at the Opera House, it was Ceartais. We're some of the most elite soldiers on the planet and we can't even save one of our own, no it's six civilians who dress up in costumes every night." Zoe vented "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for what Ceartais have done but I need a win, I need us to bring down The Drowned, so we can get vengeance for what they did to Kiara and Aleks."

Ray was quiet for a moment before saying with a straight face "You nearly lost Rojek and I nearly lost Kiara but don't let your anger cloud your judgement. It doesn't suit you."

"How can you be so calm about this? Aren't you angry about what The Drowned did to Kiara?" Zoe questioned in a stressed manner.

"Of course I'm angry, but I'm more relieved that I've got Kiara back in my life. She's my number one concern right now, not getting revenge." Ray opened up "And our next mission priority is rescuing the children The Drowned have captive and I don't want one of my best soldiers distracted with vengeance because…"

"I won't be focusing on the mission." Zoe sighed in a defeated tone.

"So please listen to me as a friend, not as your superior; go find Rojek, cuddle up in a bunk and get some sleep." Ray smiled at the ginger furred bat.

Zoe was aloof for a moment before finally cracking a smile "Fine, you win."

"Kamino! Nightfall!" A restless voice called out from across the hangar, the two Camelot operatives turned to see Alice, dressed in a black workout vest and shorts, waving over at them "It's Kiara, she's woken up!"

Ten minutes later Ray, Zoe and Alice were inside the medical block of the base, the three mammals found an uneasy looking Kion looking through a two way mirror into Kiara's secure room, the drowsy looking lioness was handcuffed to the bed while being tended to by a doctor and nurse who were doing basic observations and checks on her. Ray looked through the mirror and could see that Kiara had already been crying, he took a breath and guessed grimly "The Doctor told her she's paraplegic?"

Kion nodded and replied "Yeah, they were going to wait until after you saw her but she freaked out when she woke up and couldn't move her legs."

"Kiara." Zoe sniffed, landing on the floor beside Alice and hastily wiping away a tear.

"She'll be ok, Kiara's always been strong and we're going to be there for her." Ray rallied "So should we head in?"

"The Doctor said only me and you should head in for now, Kiara has the strongest connection with us and it might help her remember things." Kion informed.

A few minutes later the Capybara surgeon who had performed the surgery poked his head out of the door and said "You two can come in now."

"Good luck." Alice willed, looking up at Kion.

Kion and Ray walked slowly into Kiara's hospital room, the lioness was looking at them cautiously, her claws extended and ready to defend herself with but despite her wariness she greeted "You're Ray and Kion."

"That's right." Kion replied, unable to hide a smile.

"Did you remember that or did the doctor tell you our names?" Ray asked, his voice still and calming.

"…I remember your names but I don't remember who you are…" Kiara said hazily.

"That's ok, we can help you remember." Ray promised.

Then out of nowhere Kiara snarled "Why am I smaller now? Why is my fur a different colour?"

"We removed your elixir pump," Kion answered, lifting his shirt and turning around to show his own "they had to remove it to save you."

"So what you're saying is you're the reason I can't walk is because of the doctors!?" Kiara snapped.

"They saved your life Kiara!" Ray yelled back.

"My life belongs to The Wave, to my Drowned brothers and sisters! I am their champion; Lilly." Kiara declared defiantly.

Kion looked hurt by those words, it pained him to see that Fuli's influence still poisoned Kiara's mind and he lashed out "They aren't your family! And you only have one brother; me!"

"Lies!" Kiara bellowed.

Ray was unfazed by his lover's anger and stepped towards her, asking "What is the first thing you remember?"

"What?" Kiara asked back.

"Think back, what is your first memory?" Ray urged.

"…It was dark, I remember coughing…there was this massive weight on me." Kiara spoke "There were bricks on me, I dug myself out."

"Anything before that?" Ray asked gently.

"A…mission. No a dinner. Burnt food…I wanted to order in some Indian food." Kiara extracted from her jumbled mind, her voice straining as she spoke.

"Yes, yes. Mom burnt your welcome home dinner and we're going to order take out." Kion remembered from the night the Wave struck the city.

"…Dad had gone out to get wine-ARGHHHH!" Kiara mumbled before snarling in pain "My head hurts."

"Easy, easy." Ray hushed, stepping close and taking hold of one of Kiara's paws "It's ok, you're not going to remember everything over night. But we're going to be with you, every step of the way."

On the other side of the two way mirror Zoe and Alice watched the sad scene, the rabbit was actually glad for a reprieve when her phone vibrated, she got out her phone and opened the text message. It was Bo, the owner of The Burst Pipe, saying 'Word is Cloudkicker is desperate for a three mammal team, he says he'll be in the bar for 10pm, should I reserve you a seat at the table?'

Alice's golden eyes lit up with delight, this was it; her way into The Drowned and her shot at rescuing the abducted children. Zoe who had peeked at the message grinned "Let's call up Ceartais for a meeting."

000

It was just past 7pm when Ray, Zoe and Alice arrived at the bunker, with Alice dressed in an orange sweater and a denim skirt and the two others in their combat fatigues, the bat was in awe of the impressive base and would've been geeking out if not for the severity of the situation. Kion had arrived earlier to prepare everyone for the meeting but in actual fact it was more a case of seeing if the Wilde sisters had reconciled; they had not. And the fact that Robyn and Luna had not made peace was evident when Alice and the others entered the observation deck and were met with a chilly atmosphere. Robyn was on the opposite side of the room to Luna with a face of pure vexation on her muzzle as she watched Alice walk in, Luna on the other hand looked wounded and miserable, unable to look Robyn in the eye. The rest of Team Ceartais could only sit there in an awkward silence while the sisters' fractured relationship froze the room. However the Luna's amber eyes did brighten when she saw her girlfriend "Hey." She said softly.

Alice didn't have to say anything, she just walked over and got on her tip toes to kiss her girlfriend to which Robyn made a retching sound.

"Robyn!" Robin sr. scolded before looking at Alice and apologising "Forgive my granddaughter's rudeness."

"It's fine." Alice waved off as she took a seat at the table, she was honestly expecting a far worse reaction from the teen heroine.

"Alright let's get started before this situation gets anymore uncomfortable." Olivia opened, the brown mouse stood on the table everyone else was sat round "Looks like Alice finally has an opportunity to get close to Phelps, wanna' fill in the gaps frenchy?"

Alice ignored the crass nickname and explained "A contact of mine reached out and told me that Phelps' top stooge Kit Cloudkicker is really eager for a three mammal team, my bet is it's a protection unit for Phelps."

"Phelps has his own security company, why would he hire mercs?" Hannah asked out of curiosity.

"That's easy," Zoe piped up "they don't want a respectable company getting all chummy with terrorists that's why they use guns for hire like Alice."

"Where's this meeting taking place?" Marian questioned Alice.

"An underworld bar named The Burst Pipe." Alice replied.

"That dive? Damn, didn't think Phelps would be the type to drink in there." Marian chuckled darkly.

"You know it?" Alice asked, surprised by the Wilde matriarch.

"Me and Marian used to drink in there all the time when we were not so law abiding." Robin sr. smiled.

"So how are we playing this? Loading Alice with trackers and surveillance equipment?" Olivia proposed.

"Bad idea," Ray shot down "Phelps is paranoid, he's got equipment that can detect all surveillance tech, Alice would be caught out in a heartbeat."

"So what we're sending Alice in blind?" Kodi asked, sounding dubious.

"If we can even trust her." Robyn stung, which caused Luna to cower closer to Alice.

Marian snapped her fingers at Robyn and snarled "Last warning, girl."

"We can trust Alice." Ray reaffirmed "We're going to send in Alice and if Phelps does take her to The Drowned's HQ she'll recon it and come back to us and then we can plan a rescue mission accordingly."

"Ronin, would Phelps or his lackies look for a USB stick?" Marian enquired.

"I shouldn't think so, why?" Alice asked back.

"If I give you one with a pre-programmed hack on it, it'll transfer all data from a computer onto the drive in thirty seconds. If you come across any laptops at The Drowned base, it'll be a massive help." Marian explained.

"I can do that." Alice accepted the task.

"So how are we going to provide back up for Alice?" Luna asked anxiously.

Zoe swooped down from Ray's shoulder and stood on the table beside Olivia and asked Marian "Can you bring up a map of the east coast of the city?"

"Sure, give me a second." Marian replied, swiping a few buttons on her tablet, soon enough a hologram map of Tundra Town and Sahara Square came up above the table.

"Ok so we all know that after The Drowned fled the Opera House they went straight to Tundra Town, so this is the most likely place for their base to be located however we can't rule out that this was a ruse and they may have used the unguarded entryways to Sahara Square." Zoe explained before flying up to the map and saying "If we drew a straight line from the top of Tundra Town to the bottom of Sahara Square that's 40.8 miles, so my plan is this every five miles we'll station a scout at the highest point possible to be on the lookout for any trouble, counting all six of you plus me and Ray makes eight lookouts."

"Wait, that's it? We're going to be on lookout duty? What if Alice gets in trouble and we're all miles away? Or what if she can't give us a signal?" Luna worried out loud.

Alice put her paw on top of Luna's and eased "Luna I've been doing this since I was child, I'll be fine and don't worry about a signal, just follow the explosions."

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence." Luna replied dryly.

"Look it's the only plan we got, this is a recon mission so if all goes well no one will suspect Alice." Ray stated.

"So when does this mission start?" Kion asked, unable to disguise his worry for his friend.

"Alice is due at The Burst Pipe for 2200 hours," Zoe answered, sounding confident "she's going to stay at a Camelot safehouse a couple of miles away before then, by the time Alice enters the bar everyone will be in position, then we wait."

000

The Camelot safehouse was actually an apartment in one of tower blocks in Savannah central, within spitting distance of the gate to Tundra Town and half a mile away from The Burst pipe. Alice was sitting at the edge of the balcony, watching the night life of the city ever since she arrived here from the Bunker. It was nearly 9.40pm and the doe had an expression of regret on her face. The bunny had asked Zoe for a favour but as the clock ticked ever closer to 10pm it was getting less likely her wish would come true, she was about to give up on waiting and get changed into her black mission gear and prep her weapons when a soft voice disrupted sounds of the city's night life "It is so peaceful, isn't it? Almost as if the city was free of all it's burdens... as if The Drowned never existed."

"Rojek?" the rabbit looked behind herself in surprise "You came, I thought..." she cut out middle sentence.

Aleks walked closer to the bunny and looked out at the city panorama. Warm wind was musing his fur. The silver fox was dressed in purple flannel shirt and a grey T-shirt underneath. He kept his paws in pockets of his dark blue jeans. "You asked Zoe to get me to come here." He voiced calmly while thinking _więcjestem, naskrajumiast, naskrajudnia_.

Alice silently nodded, looking back at the city, she then quietly replied " _Merci_ "

"So, Alice, why did you want me to come here?" Aleks addressed rabbit by her real name.

"Zoe told you my name, didn't she?" Alice assumed.

Aleks chuckled. "Well I might have talked with her a certain night, I have my moments when I'm really convincing." Despite all odds the polish fox was able to make fun of every situation.

"So pillow talking" Alice concluded, feeling weird because of Aleks' attitude. She thought he would be negative towards her, even offensive and bitter but he was none of that. She was confused by all of this.

He ignored the rabbit's comment. "She told me more than just your name, Alice. I know its private and wasn't my business but," Aleks stopped middle sentence "But I understand your motivations now. I see why you are on such path in life." His voice was nothing more than soft. Alice ears went droopy, she didn't know why she felt upset by this.

"So what does an assassin like you want from a simple fox such as me?" he asked the obvious question, a hint of irritation could be heard in his voice.

Alice sighed deeply "I'm sure Zoe told you that the Yakuza have tracked me down. It won't be long till they get to me." she elaborated.

"She did mention it, so I'm guessing this whole meeting is about redemption. You are asking for forgiveness?" Aleks guessed, his voice turning from soft to cold, Alice had expected this tone. "Zoe also clued me in on you and Ceartais fighting the clan together, but the odds are stacked against you and you want to go into battle with a clean slate, am I right?"

"I don't expect you to ever forgive me. I don't deserve that. And if something happens to me, please look after Luna." Alice declared, sitting down on the cold marble of the balcony "But I want to apologise to you, for storming into your life and just ruining it like that."

Aleks sighed "I can't blame you."

"Pardon?" Alice asked confused with fox's response.

"I have thought of that a lot lately and I can't blame you for what she did." Aleks sighed again leaning on the balcony railing next to the rabbit. "I didn't leave Luna because she cheated on me with you, but because she had no regret for what she did. When I looked into her eyes that night, I felt betrayed, unloved." His voice was cold but in a different manner.

Alice felt her stomach twitching upon hearing Aleks' view of events. She never had thought of any other scenario apart from her being a homewrecker but now that she was faced with this possibility, she didn't know what to say so she stayed silent.

Aleks gazed upon the peaceful city, he was amazed with its beauty. The polish fox always loved looking at Zootopia from somewhere high, He chuckled and spoke softly "I forgive you, I really do."

Alice opened her eyes in disbelief looking at the silver fox standing beside her. A weight had been lifted from her shoulders and a feeling of warmth began to grow within her. Her emotions got the better of her and she ended up letting some tears escape from her eyes, she smiled and whispered quietly " _Merci_ "

Aleks smiled himself, crouched down and put a paw on the bunny's shoulder "I assume you don't want any help with this recon mission?" he asked kindly.

Alice shut her eyes and envisioned the faceless children that were imprisoned before mumbling "I can handle, besides it's personal."

"I see." Aleks dismissed, he already knew why it was such a matter for the assassin."Don't get yourself killed." Fox added after a while. "The Drowned's downfall is just on horizon, it's our time to take a stand."

Alice tooka final look upon the cityscape and said "To stand against all odds."

"Or die trying." Aleks said as he stood up and turned around and walked back into the apartment

Alice smiled sadly and looked in fox eyes. "So long, fox."

Fox just smiled back and said "I hope you find peace." Before heading for the apartment door.

"Aleks!" Alice called after him, the sharpshooter turned his head to look at his former foe. "Take care of Nightfall."

Aleks nodded and bid farewell with slight paw gesture, before closing the door behind him.

000

Ronin walked into The Burst Pipe at exactly 10pm. It was relatively quiet, with only a couple of mammals dotted around the place, the only familiar face Ronin could see was the bar maid and proprietor of this den of criminals; the sultry Bo, who was wearing a very low cut top and mini skirt. "Well, well if ain't my favourite little bunny." Bo flirted, reaching for a bottle of Bushmills whiskey from behind the bar "Shall I get you the usual?"

"Double with ice, please." Ronin replied, getting out a ten dollar bill and cheekily slipping it into the bust of Bo's top as she poured the drink, the bunny was trying to act as normal as possible and that meant flirting with Bo like she used to.

Bo just gave a titter as she finished pouring the drink, she fished out the money and trotted over to the cash register. Ronin raised her glass to her lips but before she could take a sip a yell of "Ronin!" came from the left of her.

The peeved rabbit look to her left to see a vexed looking Kit Cloudkicker staring back at her from a doorway to a private room, the sun bear was in full combat gear. "Easy Cloudkicker, you nearly made me spill my drink." Ronin sniggered.

"Just get your cotton tail in here, the boss wants to get started." Cloudkicker spat.

"Fine." Ronin reacted with a teenage like groan, hoping off her bar stool and not spilling a drop of her whiskey, she brushed by the looming figure of the bear and walked into a room to find Eustice Phelps sitting on a recliner chair sipping champagne.

"Ah Kirabito, so nice of you to accept my invitation." Phelps greeted with no hint of sarcasm "I've trust you've the Babou brothers." Motioning to the sofa on the other side of the private room.

Ronin saw two male ocelot twins, both in their mid thirties and dressed in military fatigues with sub machine guns resting beside them, the lapin knew them through friendly banter at The Burst Pipe _"Bonsoir_ Gentlemammals, nice that we finally get to work together." She said before taking a swig of her drink. As Ronin greeted the felines Cloudkicker produced what looked like a metal detector and waved it over the swordswoman's body, this machine detected digital and radio signals and also the electricity emited from electrical equipment.

"I just wanna' see you wield that blade, hear it's a thing of beauty." One of Babou's said, Ronin didn't actually know the twins' individual names.

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Cloudkicker answered, putting away the signal detector "you'll be escorting Mr. Phelps while he has a conversation with an associate."

"Fair enough." The other Babou responded.

"Forgive my rudeness sir, but why did you pick me?" Ronin asked Phelps "My latest contracts have conflicted with yours."

"Well Kirabito, I hold no grudges over that, you're a businesswoman who takes her contracts very seriously just like I know you'll take this one seriously." Phelps replied, setting his champagne flute down "Besides if the bullets start flying I'll need the best killer I know."

"Charmer." Ronin winked, before downing the remainder of the drink. "So what's the plan? Me and the Babous shadowing your vehicle?"

"Not quite, we're going via an exclusive road for a journey." Phelps answered, before clapping his hoofs together, Cloudkicker then pushed away the table in the middle of the roof to reveal a hatch, the sun bear crouched down and entered a code on the digital lock before it opened revealing a ladder leading down to a well lit tunnel.

Ronin had been coming to this bar since she was sixteen and she had never known about this passageway, she let out an impressed whistle and joked "Looks like we're travelling in style."

Phelps stood up from his chair and said "Ladies first."

Alice curtseyed and replied " _Merci."_ Before heading down the ladder, before being followed by everyone else. When they reached the bottom it looked like they were on a wrecked subway platform, there were work lights everywhere and scaffolding covering the crumbling walls to stop them collapsing. Ronin figured this must have been one of the disused subway stations from the last century before the environmentally friendly new train system was introduced to the city, an entire network of tunnels connecting the entirety of Zootopia. Ronin's awe was cut short when she spotted a vehicle on the tracks that was most definitely not a train, it looked like an armoured troop carrier but a little odd. Phelps could see Ronin's confusion and revealed "It's called the Terrapin, it's the latest amphibious vehicle my company is developing, this will be our transport this evening."

Ronin's mind was bursting with questions but she knew better than to ask them, it would just raise suspicion instead she just jested "Does it at least have a mini bar?"

A few minutes later the group were in the Terrapin, with Cloudkicker at the wheel and everyone else strapped into their seats. Ronin cautiously took note of the direction they were heading in, east, which was towards the coastline and soon enough she began to smell the salty sea air. Cloudkicker turned left at a fork in the tunnel which seemed to lead to the surface. The Terrapin emerged in an above surface rail yard. Ronin looked around and saw now sign of The Drowned or any life at all; this was not their base. Cloudkicker drove out of the railyard and onto the pebble beach beside it before saying "Switching to amphibious mode." He flicked a few switches and the engines made a different sound as the vehicle plunged into the sea "We should be there in thirty minutes." Cloudkicker informed Phelps.

"Good, when we get there make sure you activate the security system on this thing, I don't want Fuli's cultists stealing it." Phelps reminded.

Cloudkicker nodded in reply but behind him Ronin was grinning on the inside, that was a conformation that they were heading to The Drowned's base and what's more it was out at sea, which made sense seeing as no one could find their base on land.

Ronin noticed that their course had changed to north east and although the water were still she could notice choppy waters near the rocks In the distance, which was exactly where they were heading. As the minutes passed and the Terrapin got closer and closer to the rocks, Ronin could notice another shape starting to emerge, the shape of a ship. The ship had the minimal amount of lights on to avoid detections and it was masked enough by the rocks to save being spotted from the land, to save it crashing into the rocks it was held up by steel struts and Ronin could tell there had been extensive repairs to the hull with massive patches of new metal likely covering up tears. "Head to the starboard side, they'll let us on there." Phelps instructed, looking at a message on his phone.

Cloudkicker moved the Terrapin around the ship and saw that one of the passenger doors was open with a makeshift jetty leading onto the ship, two Drowned cultists were flanked by a male hippo in grey robe "It's Beshte." Phelps gave a tired sigh, knowing the hippo wasn't completely trusting of him.

Cloudkicker parked the Terrapin up and was the first to open the hatch, he exited first then was followed by Phelps and his protection team, as Phelps approached Beshte the hippo let out a grunt of annoyance "It was bad enough when you brought that uninitiated bear with you but now you bring two ocelots and a rabbit."

"And hello to you too Beshte." Phelps gave a thorny retort.

"Explain why you've brought these outsiders with you." Beshte huffed.

"Zootopia's got a lot more dangerous since we're approaching the end game, I've got a hunch Camelot are on to me, so these are my bodyguards in case they show up." Phelps lied with ease.

"I don't like this." Beshte bristled.

"I don't care, I just need to talk with Fuli, it's urgent." The Moose insisted.

Beshte didn't say anything he just walked back into the ship once known as The Crimson Mermaid, Phelps and his party were led through the ship to the upper levels with Ronin making a mental note of everything as she passed; there were mammals organising food supplies, other maintaining weapons and some Mammals were repairing the damaged vessel, but none of them were children. As Beshte led them up a staircase Ronin noticed multiple identical posters, the posters were new and made with magic markers stating nearest escape raft is one level above and as they were led through the winding corridors she noticed more and more of these safety notices all showing escape routes. They finally made it to a room that looked like a Casino with roulette tables and broken slot machines everywhere, but one some of these tables there were some mammals typing away at expensive looking laptops and observing on tv screens cctv feeds of locations in Zootopia like city hall, Zootopia Central Station and The Rainforest District mall. Then Ronin's eyes spied Fuli, the young and enigmatic leader of The Drowned, dressed in her shabby grey robe chatting to a honey badger in an equally shabby robe. Ronin figured both of them were around twenty years old, younger than herself but full of murderous purpose. She had to wonder what had led them onto this fanatical path.

Fuli then noticed Phelps and his party approaching and greeted in her eerily serene voice "Brother Eustice, it's so good to see you again."

"Likewise, Fuli, but I wish this was just a social call there's something urgent I need to discuss with you." Phelps said in a less than friendly manner, Ronin spotted one of the mammals manning a laptop get up and walk away so she slunk over and leaned on the desk in a relaxed manner.

"Oh, is there something wrong with the Weather Control plants?" Fuli queried, unfazed by Phelps' bad attitude. Everyone in the room was looking at Phelps and Fuli so Ronin quickly inserted the USB stick that Marian had given her into the laptop and began to count to thirty.

"No, all of that's going to schedule. No what I'm here about is one of my lost assets, an asset you've been hiding." Phelps accused. _5 seconds_

"You've lost me." Fuli replied.

"One of my experiments, a big white lioness with super strength and bulletproof skin just landed in the lap of the US government and she was only caught because she was on a raid with The Drowned." Phelps told with a spiny voice, _15 seconds._

"You mean Lilly? She was our champion…she gave her freedom for The Wave." Fuli spoke sadly. _20 seconds._

"She wasn't your champion, she was my experiment! An experiment that could revolutionise warfare." Phelps shot back _25 seconds._

"Eustice, mammals are not experiments, she was chosen by the wave, she was strong and the wave recognised that." Fuli countered, _30!_ Ronin hastily retrieved the usb stick without being detected, her mission was complete.

"If you had told me about Priderock I could've retrieved her and made you an entire squad of champions!" Phelps snapped "That's your problem, you never see the big picture."

"The only picture I care about is seeing The Wave's will being brought to that cesspool of a city." Fuli reacted, beginning to sound irritated.

But as the cheetah and moose argued Ronin spotted someone in the corner of her eye and it made her stomach sink in an instant, it was a child, a young goat boy around eight years old with a couple of water bottles in his hooves scampering over into a room with the sign 'Trident theatre' on the door. Ronin's brain knew she should stay put, stick with Phelps and get back on the amphibious vehicle back to Zootopia but her heart wouldn't let her. Ronin was small enough to sneak off silently and unnoticed by the bigger mammals watching the argument between Fuli and Phelps. Ronin crept into the Trident Theatre room to be met with a scene that looked ripped out of dystopian novel. Around thirty children, all of different species, were looking up at big projector screen with images of war, homeless mammals, riots, children crying and a host of other disturbing imagery flashing up every few seconds while a recording of Fuli's voice played on a loud speaker " **Society does not look after the poor, it punishes the strong willed, it starves us, turns us against one another, makes healthcare so expensive that they would rather see us die than help their fellow mammal. But the Wave changed that, the wave tested Zootopia and left the strongest alive, you are alive because the Wave deemed you worthy to do it's will and together we'll reshape the city so only the strongest will survive."** The message than began to repeat as did the imagery and the kids watching seemed to be enthralled.

" _Putain."_ Ronin whispered, scared for the children.

"Did Fuli send you to watch the movie too?" A chirpy voice asked.

Ronin turned and saw the same goat boy she had seen earlier, he was offering Ronin a bottle of water "You have to drink your water if you want to watch the movie, that's the rule." The Goat boy smiled.

Ronin took a quick whiff of the water, it smelled sweet, she then looked at the young goat's eyes, his pupils were dilated and bloodshot; the water was drugged. Ronin theorised that the drugs in the water along with the flashing images and message was programming the children to become cultists. Ronin carefully took the bottle away from the goat boy and whispered "Do me a favour, don't drink that water, it'll give you a tummy ache. You just sit tight and my friends will come and rescue you and the ot-URGH!"

Ronin was cut off by a pain in her stomach, she looked down and saw a small switchblade imbedded in her gut with the hand on the handle belonging to the Goat boy "You're one of the bad mammals Fuli warned us about." He said in a trembling voice.

Ronin pushed the child back, making sure the switchblade didn't come out of her abdomen, that would spell disaster, she gritted her teeth with pain before promising the child "It's going to be ok."

"FULI!" The Goat Boy yelled at the top of his lungs.

"No, no, no." Ronin mumbled, fumbling for a smoke bomb on her belt.

As the main doors to the theatres opened and the confused faces of Fuli and Phelps laid eyes on Ronin she dropped the smoke bomb filling the entire area with thick black smoke "Don't shoot! You'll hit the children!" Fuli shouted to her followers, Ronin zipped past the cultists under the cover of the smoke and was soon back in the casino only to be spotted by Cloudkicker "Ronin! He blasted, levelling his pistol at her.

" _Merde!"_ Ronin yelled as she ran through the casino while shots rang out around her, she got out her own handgun and took out the two cultists guarding the staircase with headshots, she made it into the staircase and alarm began to emit from the speakers.

" **My brothers and sisters, there is an uninitiated white rabbit doe on this ship, we can not let her leave, kill her on sight!"** Beshte's voice boomed over the speakers.

Ronin looked behind her to see the Drowned from the casino were giving chase along with Cloudkicker and the Babou twins, she could also hear the sound of cultists storming through the staircase from above and below her, they were closing in fast. In her desperation Ronin looked around and spotted a vent on the wall, small enough for her to fit through, she shot off the latches before clambering in and soon realised she made a huge mistake, she began to fall down a shaft at high speed, in a panic she grabbed two shuriken off her belt and imbedded them in the sides of the ventilation shaft, they tore through the metal but she slowed down to a complete stop by the time she reached the bottom. When her feet landed on the bottom of the shaft, Ronin let out a small mew of pain before looking at her stomach, the switchblade was still there and blood was starting to ooze out, she looked at the blood and was thankful that it was light red meaning the knife hadn't pierced an organ. Ronin wasn't going to pull the knife out though, she would bleed out and either get caught in a weakened state or die from blood loss. The swordswoman needed to get off this ship. She peeked through the nearest vent cover and saw a cargo area full of heavy wooden boxes and pallets, with a warthog on a forklift moving crates down from higher areas while other Cultists patrolled the area looking for the wanted lapin, but on a wall behind them was one of the makeshift safety posters she had seen 'Lifeboat 100m' with an arrow pointed to a door onto the outer deck. Ronin needed to make it to that lifeboat if she had any chance of survival and getting the intel to Ceartais.

As she carefully began to remove the vent cover she whispered bitterly to herself "You just had to follow that goat, didn't you? You saw a kid and let your guard down." The vent cover came off with ease and she slid it to the side, she emerged and crouched beside a nearby crate wincing in pain as it dug the knife her stomach a little deeper. Ronin spotted two otter cultists chatting a few metres away, she needed to take them out quickly without making much noise, she unsheathed her katana and silently began to sneak up on the cultists within three seconds she had closed the distance and severed both their heads, with only the sound of their bodies hitting the floor indicating her presence. Ronin then heard the sound of rushed footsteps approaching, she turned as saw an ibex with a machete charging at her while screaming "I found her!" Ronin dodged the Ibex's machete swipe before clashing her sword against the more cruder blade, failing to notice the warthog on the forklift approaching from behind her.

"I haven't got time for this." Ronin snarled before parrying another machete strike and plunging her katana into the Ibex's heart.

But as Ronin withdrew her blade she heard the creak of wood from above her, she looked up to see the forklift had dropped a crate and it was already hurtling towards her, Ronin tried to dive out of the way but "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ronin screamed the most rabbit like squeal she had ever mustered, she had gotten most of her body out of the way in time…all except her left arm.

Ronin was pinned to the ground, tears of pain erupting from her golden eyes as she looked at her left arm; completely crushed by wooden crate which weighed close to a ton, every nerve ending in her arm was screaming with pain as blood began to pool from under the box. Ronin had felt all manners of pain before this but this was unlike anything she had ever experienced and it was like hell of earth. She heard more footsteps approaching, through her bleary eyes she saw the victorious looking warthog trotting over to her with a wrench in his hand, ready to finish her off. Ronin looked at the crate crushing her arm and realised there was no way she could move it and even she did her arm would be useless. Ronin's pain filled mind filled with images of the children in that theatre, of Luna and of her master/mother Oni…she needed to survive. Ronin's right paw grabbed her katana that had clattered beside her before letting out a roar and turning her body towards her crushed left arm and bringing down her katana with all the strength she could muster.

Ronin was not ready to die.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Ronin what did you just do? Will she be able to escape the Drowned's ship? Will she reach Ceartais in time? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Ronin's survival skills are put to the ultimate test, the Wilde sisters are faced with a dire situation and Fuli makes some rather severe decisions. Please review and c ya soon!)


	51. Another Scar, Another Lesson

(An/ Hey folks, it's Garouge Faux/Crewefox with the 5Oth CHAPTER of SOC, wooooooo! 50 chapters, just after 1 year, nearly 200k views on this site alone, over 1700 reviews and crazy amounts of fan art we're on chapter 50, the home stretch of the fic with only 5 chapters left! I hope you all the like the rest of the fic. And I couldn't have gotten this far without the amazing Dev team who helped me every step of the way with story ideas, developing OCs, managing the discord server and producing fantastic art, you're not team members to me, you're all my friends...and I'm also happy to report that this Fic series brought together a lovely couple who are the inspiration for two loved up characters in this fic, you 2 know who you are and I hope you two all the happiness in the world. A special HAPPY BIRTHDAY message to our Dev team's queen of shipping; Lis! Have a awesome birthday! And this fic would be nothing without all you wonderful readers who take the time out of your day to read my silly little story about superheroes in Zootopia, thanks for all the likes, reviews, reblogs, follows and faves as always. So without further ado, let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 50 – Another Scar, Another Lesson**

It hurt. Of course it hurt but Ronin wasn't going allow herself to wallow in her agony when she still had a job to do. She needed to get the lifeboat, get back to the mainland and deliver the intel before she bled out, which would be under five minutes. Ronin didn't let out any whimpers of pain as she forced herself onto her feet, her golden eyes burned like the sun with the fur under her eyes soaked with pain fuelled tears, she looked the warthog cultist standing there in shock at what he was seeing; a rabbit with her left arm missing and bleeding heavily from the fresh point of severance, a switchblade sticking out of her stomach and a shaky right paw holding her Katana and pointing it towards him.

"Move or die." Ronin threatened.

The stunned warthog came to his senses and yelled "For the Wave!" before charging at Alice, raising his heavy wrench over his head ready to smash it against the bunny's skull. Ronin easily avoided the brutish move while slashing at the cultist's ankles, sending him tumbling to the floor with a swinish squeal before Ronin plunged her Katana through the side of chest, piercing his heart. She quickly twisted her blade and removed it, leaving the hog to die. Ronin couldn't physically run but she walked as fast as she could in the direction of the lifeboat. She made to the bulkhead door that had an emergency release panel beside it and smashed it with the hilt of her katana. The electronic release opened the heavy door and the doe stumbled out onto the outer deck only to find a skunk cultist patrolling the deck a mere four feet away. The skunk looked shocked and was scrambling for her radio when Ronin dashed forward and swiftly slashed the skunk's throat. The cultist dropped her radio and clutched her paws to her throat in a pitiful attempt to stop the bleeding, as she fell to the with the sound of bloody gargles instead of a scream. Ronin hobbled past towards the life boat, but it appeared that 'Life boat' was a very loose term. This did not look like any standard life raft for a cruise ship, this sleek black boat looked military grade with a powerful engine. It was easily twenty feet long and rested on a downward facing ramp for a speedy deployment into the water. Ronin clambered in with a hiss of pain and found ammo crates and weapon boxes strapped under the twenty or so seats that varied in size for different mammals. She stumbled up to the control and found two pilot councils; one for a large mammal and one for a small mammal. There was a brightly lit touchscreen above the controls with the words 'Auto-Evacuate'. Ronin dropped her katana and pressed the 'Auto-Evacuate' button to which a computerized voice asked "Please select evacuation site." And a map of Zootopia appeared on screen with three destinations highlighted; Tundra Town docks, Sapphire Quay in Sahara Square and the Savannah harbour.

"Hey there she is!" A voice hollered out.

Before Ronin could look around to see who was shouting gunfire began to ring out with bullets pinging off the hull of the life boat, Ronin was in no fit state for a firefight and slammed her paw on the touchscreen button selecting Tundra Town Docks. The magnetic locks on the boat released and it slid down the ramp, falling through the air briefly before crashing into the sea. The auto-pilot kicked in and the boat began to speed off, weaving around the jagged rocks while bullets rained down on it from the ship.

Once Ronin was satisfied that she was out of the line of fire she emerged from behind the large seat she had taken shelter behind but immediately fell to her knees with weakness, she was growing frail from blood loss, she looked at where her left arm used to be and cursed herself in her native French tongue "That'll teach you to stick to the plan." Ronin knew she needed to stop the bleeding otherwise she would be dead before she reached the shore. If she had taken care of the wound when she first severed her arm she would've tied a tourniquet around the upper part of her arm but too much time had past and she had lost too much blood, she needed something drastic to halt the bleeding and under the smaller pilot seat she saw a solution; albeit a very painful one. With her remaining right paw she reached and pulled out a box of hand flares meant for signalling help, she opened the fireproof box and pulled out a flare from the foam lining. Ronin briefly glanced at the instructions and groaned slightly, this was clearly a two handed job, she improvised by sitting down gripping the flare between her knees then using her right paw to remove the plastic cap before turning it around so the scratch pad could strike the top of the flare, the flare ignited with a bright red light and puff of smoke. The assassin took hold of the flare and psyched herself up for what she was about to do. She looked at the raging chemically fuelled flame and then at her bleeding left stump, "You've been branded before, you got through that and you can get through this." She panted, the pain and the blood loss were making her woozier by the second.

Ronin steadied her nerves before holding the flare to her bleeding stump, the bunny screamed in torment as it cauterized the wound, her agonised screeches continued as she made sure the entirety of her stump was seared shut. It took a total of sixteen seconds and each one of them was torture. Ronin tossed the flare overboard and breathed heavily between her cries, the burn was adding to her hellish pain, it was all too much. She felt like vomiting, crying and passing out all in the same moment but just as her eyes began to close the noise of fresh gunfire reached her long lapin ears.

Ronin's golden eyes snapped open with a fresh hit of adrenaline now coursing through her bloodstream, she staggered onto her feet and peeked over the end of the boat to see a identical 'Life boat' perusing her with three cultist firing assault rifles at her. Ronin let out a rare growl of rage before screaming "You think you can kill me!? Come on and try it!" She then ducked down and started searching the weapon crates under the passenger seats of the sea craft.

Ronin was not ready to die.

000

It was just after midnight, Ronin had met up with Phelps at The Burst Pipe and so far Team Ceartais along with Ray and Zoe hadn't heard a thing from the swordswoman. They were all sticking to Zoe's plan of being at the eight highest points in Tundra Town and Sahara Square. Ray was sitting in a dormant helicopter on top of the old trashed hospital in north Tundra Town, Roar was perched on the roof of a TV studio, Spitfire was on the roof of the Fishtown market ruins, Andraste was anxiously looking for any sign of her lover atop of a crane in a construction yard, The Mage was keeping out of sight as he observed the city from the weather control plant, Bullet was focusing her senses to listen for any signs of distress while she sat on a water tower in a destroyed residential area of Sahara Square, Scarlet was reluctantly scouting the surrounding area from her radio tower vantage point while Zoe was comfortably surveying the area from the top of the recently reopened Palm top casino.

Olivia was nice and warm in her temperature controlled mech, she had set the machine to detect any abnormalities so she didn't really need to be on lookout, she was sat in the cockpit munching on her third candy bar of the evening when Andraste's voice came over the radio " **She's taking too long."**

"Chill, Andraste." Spitfire advised with a mouth full of chocolate.

" **Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"** Andraste fretted.

" **Ronin is a professional, she can handle missions like this, there's no need to worry."** Zoe eased her frenemy's worries over the comm channel.

" **Oh so she does shady gigs like this all the time, good to know."** Scarlet commented smarmily, with the sound of Andraste sighing also being heard.

" **Squirt can you try keeping your head in the game?This attitude of yours is getting old."** Roar replied, the crackly sound of the comm couldn't hide his annoyance.

" **Oh bite me, Roar. Not all of us are as soft as you."** Scarlet parried, sounding pissed off.

" **Ok, ok let's reign in guys, we have a mission to complete."** Mage cut in, who felt odd being the voice of reason.

"… **Sorry."** Roar replied.

But when Scarlet didn't reply Bullet gave a verbal nudge **"Princess, this is the part where you say sorry back."**

" **Pfft, fat chance."** Scarlet reacted before goading " **Hey does anyone else notice that Andraste is being very quiet? Got nothing to say?"**

Another sigh could be heard across the comm channel before Andraste answered **"I don't want to fight with you Scarlet, we're still sisters even if you don't think we are."**

There was an uncomfortable silence on the channel, the sentence left a sting for everyone but no one more so than Scarlet. The hybrid was about to say something in way of an apology when Ray chimed in **"Ok new rule; maintain radio silence unless you see anything."**

Spitfire was only silent for a few seconds though; one of her screens linked to Spitfire's external cameras had picked up some anomalous light patterns out at sea "Hang on guys, I think I've got something." The brown mouse alerted as she zoomed in her cameras towards the dark seascape.

" **What is it!?"** Andraste panicked over the radio.

"Give me a second." Spitfire replied, while the mech's camera's adjusted and switched to night vision mode only to see two military style speed boats speeding towards the Tundra Town coastline while exchanging fire "We got two speedboats heading for Tundra Town shooting the hell out of each other!" she informed with haste, as she primed the mech's jet for a quick take off.

" **It's got to be Ronin!"** Roar reacted.

Spitfire launched into the air and began to speed towards the coast "I'm going to race ahead!" she said with urgency.

" **Everyone else stay in your positions, I'll pick you up in the chopper."** Ray commanded over the comm link.

Spitfire's jet boosters could easily make her move at mach 2, but for this short distance she decided to stick around mach 1. She was quickly out of Tundra town and over the open sea while tracking the two speed boats. Spitfire had reached them within thirty seconds, she switched to her less powerful thrusters to hover and access the situation only to see an ox firing an assault rifle vaporise in an explosion that also trashed the pursuing speedboat. Spitfire looked to where the grenade shot had come from and saw a wrathful Ronin with a grenade launcher in one paw but was horrified to see the bunny was missing her left arm with only a heavily charred stump remaining. Spitfire descended onto the speedboat startling the rabbit, she briefly aimed the launcher at the mech before realising who it was and letting it fall from her hand "T-the mission didn't go as p-planned." Ronin stuttered, swaying on her feet.

Spitfire disabled her voice modifier and said in her sweet Scottish voice "Alice, your arm…"

Ronin looked at her stump and slurred "It d-doesn't matter, I need to tell…" she then staggered forward feeling faint, Spitfire lunged forward and caught her.

"We need to get you to the bunker!" Spitfire worried, making sure to cradle Ronin's injured body carefully.

"But my m-mission…" Ronin protested weakly before drifting into unconsciousness.

Spitfire flew back into the air and set a course back to the Bunker while relaying hastily on the comm link "Everyone get to the Bunker! Maid and Hood prep the infirmary! Ronin is injured, I repeat Ronin is injured!"

000

Back on The Crimson Mermaid, Fuli was inspecting the damage left in Ronin's wake in the cargo hold while Phelps, Beshte and Bunga stood back. There were actual tears in her eyes as she looked upon the corpses of four cultists the bunny had slaughtered "Our brothers and sisters were killed in our home by a snake," Fuli spoke, her voice keeping her trademark stillness "a snake that you brought to our door Brother Eustice, she could be our undoing."

"Don't you think I know that!?" Phelps stressed, pulling at his antlers "If she goes to authorities, we're all screwed."

"Maybe we should move up the 'Snow day' plan?" Bunga suggested, looking agitated.

"The plan will be pointless if I get caught, everything we've worked for will go up in smoke!" Phelps reacted, picturing himself being arrested and sent to some hellhole prison.

"The plan won't be pointless, the Wave's justice will still be brought to Zootopia."Fuli assured, wiping away the tears in her eyes.

"Stop thinking about the 'Snow day'! All my plans for beyond Zootopia will be worthless if it gets out Phelps Arms are linked with The Drowned." Phelps blurted out.

The three senior members of The Drowned eyed Phelps with suspicion with the burly hippo Beshte questioning "What do you mean 'Plans beyond Zootopia'?"

Phelps looked at Beshte with annoyed look and snorted "You three don't see the big picture do you? As soon as 'Snow Day' happens the US government will automatically launch a counter terrorism initiative meaning a huge defence budget increase for arms contracts."

"Allowing Phelps arms to snag most of those contracts, making the company billions." Bunga guessed.

"Exactly, that way we can pour more money into The Drowned's operations and move onto different cities across the country; Seatlle, Miami, New York…all of those cities need The Wave's justice and we can give it to them." Phelps pitched with enthusiasm.

"So The Drowned come in, deliver justice, the government gives your company contracts and then we move onto a different city to start the cycle all over again?" Fuli framed the scenario.

"Exactly, that way The Drowned will always have funds and weapons to continue their work." Phelps answered, putting a friendly hoof on Fuli's shoulder.

Fuli's green eyes looked up at the Phelp's unassuming expression before cooing "Well that does seem like a sound strategy, but there's one problem."

"What's that?" Phelps asked.

Fuli extended her claws in a flash and swiped at Phelps' face, the moose fell back with a cry of pain as the cheetah said in a chilling voice "It makes you richer and richer."

"Fuli, what the hell!?"Phelps shrilled, putting a hoof to his bleeding muzzle.

"Beshte, hold him down." Fuli instructed to which the hippo happily complied, Beshte weighed nearly two tons it was easy to hold down the thrashing arms dealer.

"Stop this! I'm one of you! I'm Drowned!" Phelps begged, as he struggled in vain against Beshte's weight.

Fuli crouched down and reached into the Phelp's blazer, pulling out a wad of money held together by a rubber band, there must've been at least ten thousand dollars. She sighed before saying in her spookily serene tone "I used to think that too, but the truth is we've been looking into your dealings, all those hackers you brought into our ranks accessed your network and found out about all the shady shit you've been up to. In the beginning when The Wave first struck this ship you joined us because we were your best option of survival but as we became more militant you saw us a business opportunity…I knew all along and you were of use to us, but not anymore."

"Please…please don't kill me." Phelps pleaded, wetting himself in terror.

Fuli looked at the roll of one hundred dollar bills in her paw and an idea spawned, she looked at Bunga and asked politely "Would you please open his mouth?"

Bunga saw where this was headed and smiled "Of course."

"What are yo-" Phelps began but the Honey Badger's sharp claws pried open the moose's mouth.

Fuli removed the rubber band from the wad of cash then softly smiled "You've backstabbed, lied and murdered for this money, it's only fitting this blood money should end you." She then began stuffing the bills down Phelp's throat, the arms tycoon thrashing around as he choked while more and more cash was shoved down his airway. This lasted for about thirty seconds and then he stopped moving, his brown eyes wide open and frozen in horror, Fuli stood up and let the rest of cash fall onto the fresh corpse. Fuli exhaled a tired breath then commanded "Bunga, lead our brethren and kill Cloudkicker and those twin ocleots, hang their bodies in the lobby as a warning for traitors."

"Yes, Fuli. The Wave's work will be done." Bunga obeyed before heading towards the staircase.

As she once again observed the carnage left behind by Ronin, Fuli spotted something unusual beside the fallen warthog "Beshte lift up that crate." She asked kindly, to which the hippo obliged, with the crate lifted Fuli reached over and picked up a crushed severed arm garbed in black cloth and white fur. "Amazing, she cut off her own arm to escape…you've got to admire that bunny's tenacity." Fuli commented, not caring that she was getting blood on her paws.

"It looks like our emblem." Beshte noticed.

"You're right," Fuli chuckled "I think I might keep this, as a reminder to only trust our own kind."

"So what's our next step?" Beshte asked.

"This ship is no longer safe, we have to evacuate and move up the 'Snow Day' schedule. Evacuate the children first, without them the plan will fail." Fuli ordered "Evacuate in small groups to avoid detection and leave a contingent of cultists to destroy any evidence of our plans."

"I'll take care of it personally." Beshte accepted, bowing slightly to his leader.

000

Alice was drifting in and out of consciousness all the way back to The Bunker. Spitfire had arrived with her long before the rest of the team. Marian and Robin sr. were already in the infirmary when Spitfire carried Alice in, the former vigilantes gasping when they saw the rabbit's injuries. Both foxes shook of their shock quickly, knowing that they needed to act fast. Robin sr. had been stabbed so many times he was an expert in treating knife wounds, luckily the switchblade in Ronin's stomach hadn't hit any organs so it was easy enough to treat, but just as the old archer was stitching the up the stab wound Luna stormed into the infirmary to find her girlfriend on the table. Luna couldn't scream, it got stuck in her throat, instead she rushed over to the semi conscious doe and took hold of her remaining paw.

Seconds later the rest of the team plus Ray and Zoe arrived, all of them mortified at Alice's injury, including Robyn. But Luna didn't dwell in sadness for long, she needed to make sure Alice's stump didn't becoming infected but the fact was her surgical skills didn't cover traumatic amputations. She'd need a trauma/orthopaedic surgeon and an anaesthetist to put Alice under while the surgery was performed. The infirmary had all the surgical tools and an anaesthetic machine but no one to use them. Robin sr. quickly contacted a pair of mob doctors known to work together, he offered them a $100 thousand each for a few hours work and their silence. Kodi and Robin sr. picked up the Mob doctors; a pink pig surgeon named Dr. Hamm and a goat anaesthetist known as Djali, blindfolded them and brought them down to the Bunker's infirmary within an hour of Alice arriving. Luna was already scrubbed up and had set out the instruments to re-fashion Alice's stump telling Dr. Hamm that she would be assisting in the procedure.

The surgery began just before 2am and all the others could do was waitwhile the three doctors performed the operation. Marian had rifled through Alice's sneaking suit and found her USB stick in a zipped pocket. The Wilde matriarch immediately plugged it into her computer and let out a snarl of frustration; all the data was heavily encrypted and it was obvious this wasn't amateur work, this was top tier encryption and even with Marian's skills and the Bunker computer's power it would take at least 36 hours to crack through.

Everyone was gathered in the observation deck, on tenterhooks for the op to be over and Alice to wake up but while they waited everyone noticed Robyn's sudden shift in mood; the anger and bravado that she had maintained since the revelation of Alice and Luna's relationship was nowhere to be seen. The ginger hybrid was curled up on the tatty old sofa looking solemn and guilty, no one said a word about it, it wasn't the time and it was guaranteed to end badly. Hannah couldn't resist going over to Robyn and letting her girlfriend lean on her, the blind gunslinger gently cradling her love and stroking her fur.

Luckily the operation didn't take long and at half past three in the morning, Alice was brought out of her anaesthetic slumber, while Robin sr. and Kodi re-blindfolded the mob doctors and drove them home the rest of the team went down to the infirmary to check on the patient.

They walked in to find an exhausted looking Alice garbed in a surgical gown, the white bandages around her stump peeking out from the left sleeve. The assassin was tucked into a hospital bed with her doting vixen sat in the chair beside her, their paws linked tight. Alice looked at the mammals approaching her, smiled weakly and croaked "Tell me the truth, do I look as bad as I feel?"

"You've seen better days Kirabito." Ray sighed "Alice, I'm so sorry, if I had known I would've never sent-"

"Easy Ray, another scar is another lesson." Alice hushed, her voice drowsy from all the painkillers "This isn't on you, this is my own bloody fault."

"What happened?"Kion asked, the big lion's shoulders were slumped and his voice glum.

"I got careless, I just got the USB back from a laptop when I saw one of the kids, like an idiot I followed him and… oh god, those poor kids." Alice expressed, forcing herself not become upset.

"What did you see?" Olivia asked carefully, the engineer standing in Kion's open paw.

"They're all brainwashed, the Drowned make them drink drugged water and force them to watch this video over and over again showing sick images, Fuli's voice is playing over the video indoctrinating them." Alice explained through her tired haze.

"The bastards." Zoe snarled from Ray's shoulder, her small fangs glinting.

Hannah could tell Alice was struggling to stay awake and offered in a caring voice "We can talk later if you're tired, you've just been through hell."

"No," Alice instantly protested "I need to give my report!" The doe then let out a small cry of pain.

"Hey, hey, don't strain yourself, we don't want you ripping those stitches." Luna soothed.

Ray could see Alice was desperate to give her report so stepped forward "Ok Kirabito; mission report."

"The Drowned are on a cruise ship called The Crimson Mermaid," Alice panted, the opioids in her system making her sound drunk "it's anchored near some large rocks out to the east, it looks like it's stuck there."

"How many Drowned are there?" Zoe quizzed, growing serious.

"I can't give you an exact number but when I was led through the ship I saw at least a hundred of them but judging from the food supplies and number of those strange life boats there could be easily four hundred of them." Alice relayed.

"Four hundred brainwashed mammals with guns? Well isn't that just dandy." Marian grimaced.

"What weapons are they packing?" Ray enquired.

"Assault rifles, grenade launchers, pistols basically anything Phelps Arms can produce and there are dozens of crates in the cargo hold." Alice told, her mind flashing back to when she cut off her arm.

"Ok." Ray nodded "You've done your job Alice, you're officially a free mammal."

"…It's not like I can enjoy it, I'll have to go on the run again now." Alice lamented.

"Stop that, we're going to help you beat those yakuza thugs." Luna butted in.

"Luna, look at me, I'm not going to be fighting anyone ever again." Alice said sharply, holding up her stump.

"Not so fast there," Olivia chirped "Dawson tech can get you a state of the art cybernetic built in about two weeks, on the house of course."

"You…you would do that for me?" Alice uttered, shocked by the offer.

Olivia gave a sly smile at the rabbit and answered "You just gave your left arm for us, the least I can do is build you a new one."

" _Merci beaucoup."_ Alice gave a heartfelt smile despite being sleepy.

Alice was struggling to keep her eyes open so Kion said "Ok Alice, you get some sleep, we'll check on you in the morning."

"Come on guys." Hannah agreed, ushering everyone out of the infirmary but Robyn didn't move causing Hannah to query "Robyn?"

"You go on ahead, I need to…" Robyn mumbled shyly, unable to finish her sentence.

Hannah understood and just nodded at Robyn before following the others back up to the main atrium of The Bunker. Robyn stood there for about two minutes in silence watching Luna sit beside the slumbering Alice, Luna didn't even look up at her sister, all of the vixen's attention was on her injured doe.

Robyn scorned herself for hesitating so much and blurted out "Luna, about what I said…I'm…look what I said was…Urgh, I suck at this."

Luna let go of Alice's paw, stood up from the small stool and looked at her sister with sadness in her eyes "Don't force yourself to apologise." She spoke, sounding hurt. The dim lighting in the infirmary matching her mood.

"Look I was an asshole, ok? I know that but I just want us…" Robyn was struggling to find the right words and pulled at her ears in frustration.

"…I can make it easy for you." Luna spoke up.

"Huh?" Robyn sounded.

"I just want you to take it back, that's all I want. You don't need to say sorry if you don't want to, just take what you said back." Luna sniffled, tears welling up in her golden eyes.

"Lu.." Robyn uttered, unsure to reach out or not.

"I've lost my mother and my brothers, I don't want to lose my sister too, I don't care if you hate me, just tell me we're still sisters." Luna cried, her body trembling slightly.

Robyn last chain of anger fell away at that moment, she sped towards Luna and wrapped her arms around her in heartfelt hug "I take it back, I take everything back!" Robyn professed, barely keeping her tears at bay "And I'm sorry, for everything I said."

Luna felt a wave of relief course through her upon hearing these words, her body melted into the hug and she cried into her sister's shoulder. The fracture between the sisters was completely healed but this was a promising start.

Above the emotional scene in the elevator heading back to the surface, Zoe and Ray were both wearing serious expressions on their face "What's the plan, sir?" Zoe asked, itching for a fight.

Ray smiled at the bat on his shoulder and said "You best call Rojek and tell him his sick leave's over, we've got a boat to raid."

(AN/ So what did you folks think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; Camelot strike at the Drowned's base, Marian tries to decipher Fuli's plan, Alice and Luna grow close and just when you thought thinks couldn't get any worse for our heroes, it does. Please review and c ya soon...)


	52. What was, what is and what will be

**Chapter 51- What was, what is and what will be**

It was dawn in Zootopia but no one could see the sun, a thick blanket of black cloud masked the sunrise, robbing the city of the beautiful morning ritual and replacing it with a thunderstorm and squalling winds. To many of the citizens this would be an eyesore and inconvenience but for Camelot it was most welcome. The storm had allowed the two five mammal teams to approach the Drowned's ship undetected, two choppers dropping off the teams on opposite ends of the boat. Ray's team consisted of Zoe, Aleks and two more soldiers; a female ox and a black-wooled ram, who dropped down to the deck via ropes from the chopper, all sheltering behind a bar beside a dirty outdoor swimming pool. As soon as Ray saw that everyone was safe he looked at Zoe and ordered "Nightfall set your drones to scout for patrols." The torrential rain was preventing his voice being carried far.

"On it." Zoe complied, producing a small bat sized tablet and swiping a few keys, a dozen or so seconds later she reported "We've got only four cultists on active patrol on the outside of the ship and by the looks of it most of the life boats are gone. Looks like the majority of them have left for dry land."

"We can't rule out that the children have been moved, we stick to the plan, we sweep the ship deck by deck taking care of The Drowned as we go, if we see any of their leaders try and take them alive and if you spot a kid hold fire, the last thing we want is hostages getting hurt." Ray laid out, his striped fur heavy on his face from the rain "But first we need to deal with the cultists patrolling the outside."

"I believe I can help." Aleks responded, gripping his sniper rifle tighter, his natural night vision allowing him to see clearly in this storm "Zoe, who's my nearest target?"

Zoe studied her tablet before responding "You'll have a serval coming into view in around ten seconds."

Aleks flipped off the protective cap on the sniper scope before coming out from behind the bar and lining up his shot, soon enough the raincoat wearing, gun toting serval came into view. "Target sighted." Aleks confirmed.

"Take the shot." Ray instructed.

"Wait." Aleks whispered, easily following the feline's movements.

"Wait for what?" Ray asked back in confusion.

Suddenly a flash of lighting lit up the sky and the loud rumble of thunder followed shortly after, Aleks pulled the trigger while the crack of thunder filled the sky, disguising the sound of the gunshot. "He's down." Aleks replied, getting back behind cover.

"Clever fox." Zoe grinned up at her boyfriend, the bat was wearing a waterproof poncho over her usual combat fatigues.

"Where's the next target?" Aleks followed up, staying serious.

"The other team took out two and while you were busy waiting for the thunder I got my drones to take out the last guy." Zoe bragged.

"Stay focused you two, the path is clear and we need to sweep this ship." Ray said sternly, turning to the Ram and Ox before adding "York, Chang; you stay on this deck and be ready to take out any Drowned heading for the boats."

"Yes, sir." Chang, the Ox, complied.

"Right, I'm on point, Rojek behind me and Nightfall, you bring up the rear." Ray stated before coming out of cover with Aleks and Zoe in tow heading for the nearest door. The white tiger opened up the door carefully checking all the blind spots as he entered the corridor, Aleks and Zoe followed in both thankful to be out of the storm.

Aleks slung his rifle on his shoulder and switched to his silenced pistol while saying "It doesn't sound like anyone's home."

"My drones are picking up a moving heat signature two hundred metres east." Zoe replied before putting away her tablet and peeling off her poncho so she could fly.

"Let's go say hello." Ray smirked, leading his team down the wrecked corridors, all of them taking note how many ration packets and bottled water were scattered around, as if everyone was scrambling for the lifeboats as fast as they could. The team soon heard someone rustling through boxes in a small side room which once served as videogame arcade on the ship, they peaked into the room to see stacks of cardboard boxes among overturned and smashed game cabinets with a lone male Saola gathering up as many medical supplies as he could and stuffing them into a holdall.

Ray nodded at Zoe, signalling for her to disable the cultist, she quickly swooped in and slashed at the oblivious Saola's neck with her tranquilizer laced metal claws, the cultist had fallen to the ground before he could even cry out in pain. Zoe landed on top of the knocked out cultist and observed all the medicines he was packing up "All these drugs were just left in this room? This place doesn't even have a door to lock." She pondered out loud.

"It shows how strongly these poor mammals have been indoctrinated, they daren't steal from their own." Aleks commented.

Ray was binding the Saloa's wrists with cable ties and sighed "Fuli's like a virus, a bet this guy was just a normal bloke before the Wave and now look at him, he'll probably face major jailtime on terror charges."

"But he's been brainwashed, it's not his fault." Zoe protested.

"You try telling that to the government." Ray replied sadly "These mammals need rehabilitation not a jail cell."

" **Everyone report to cargo hold, we're going to be moving the main bulk of the weapons onto the boats."** The ship's loudspeaker blared out suddenly, the voice was deep and gravely.

Ray suddenly perked up and smiled "Well isn't that convenient."

The three mammals carefully made their way through the deserted lobby of the hotel part of the ship, only to find the disembowelled bodies of Cloudkicker and two ocelots hanging from a chandelier. "Well if Cloudkicker's dead, I'm guessing Phelps is too." Zoe theorised, feeling no sympathy for the dead sun bear.

"Fuli must've lashed out because of Ronin's interference." Ray assumed, not affected by the gory scene "Come on, there's a staff stairwell over there."

The team carried on down to the cargo hold, as they descended into the depths of the ship they could here voices and the sound of machinery emanating from the bottom, Ray lead the others to the upper floor of the cargo area where the offices were and peeked over the railings to see thirty or so cultists moving ammo and weapon crates, with the help of a forklift getting items from high areas. Ray instantly recognised the robe wearing Beshte, intel suggested the hippo was one of Fuli's generals, the imposing hippo was barking orders at his fellow cultists unaware of the unwelcome visitors. Zoe then tapped Ray's arm and pointed to Phelp's corpse, his eyes wide open and bulging with money stuffed into his mouth "Told ya' so." Zoe whispered cheekily.

Ray rolled his eyes before spying the other Camelot strike team on the opposite end of the upper floor, all of them getting in attack positions. Ray signalled for Aleks to move to the left corner and Zoe to get to the right. Once everyone was in position Ray looked down at the cultists, he could only spot two that were armed, all the others were just moving crates, it would be unlawful to kill unarmed mammals even if they were the enemy. In that moment he made a snap decision, he stood up with his gun aimed at the closest armed cultist, a panda holding an assault rifle and bellowed "Drowned put your guns down and raise your hands, this is the Camelot anti-terror task force!" All the cultists suddenly looked up to see they were surrounded, some of them looking terrified but not Beshte, Ray took note of this and continued "We have taken control of your base, surrender now and you won't come to harm, attempt anything and we will use lethal force!"

The Panda cultist raised his gun at Ray and began to holler "The Wave's work w-"

Ray put a bullet between the Panda's eyes before he could finish his sentence, he then growled loudly "Now does anyone else want to try something stupid? Because we've got enough bullets for every idiotic idea that pops into your heads."

"So the rabbit was working for you?" Beshte grunted as the other armed cultist tossed his gun to the ground and raised his hands along with the other brainwashed mammals.

"Raise your hands Beshte!" Ray blasted, cautious of the hippo's cloak that covered the majority of his large frame.

"You think you've won, don't you? You think because you've taken our base and our weapons you've dealt a fatal blow? You're wrong." Beshte blustered "Our brothers and sisters will act out the Wave's will."

"Last chance Beshte, put your hands up!" Ray warned, knowing the hippo was stalling.

It then Aleks saw it, the wind from the open door to the outer deck fluttered Beshte's cloak slightly, enough for the fox to see what the fanatic had in hand, a grenade and he was trying to pull out the pin. Aleks' reflexes took over and he swiftly aimed at Beshte's right knee then fired, the high calibre bullet tearing through the hippo's pudgy flesh. Beshte's wailed and the grenade fell out 9of his hand, thankfully with the pin still attached, Zoe saw the grenade and swooped down in a flash grabbing it with her feet before any of the cultists could get to it.

Ray was stunned by the speed and synchronicity of the couple, he turned to Aleks and said "I appreciate the save but we needed to interrogate him."

"Hence why I shot him in the knee instead of the head." Aleks replied dryly, looking at Beshte writhing on the floor in pain, his lower leg hanging on by a few threads of muscle, the bullet had nearly torn his leg clean off "I'd say you've got about three or four minutes to question him."

Within in a minute both Camelot teams were down on the lower half of the cargo bay restraining the Drowned who had surrendered while Ray questioned the dying Beshte. "Where's Fuli?" Ray asked, crouching next to the fallen cultist.

"Y-you think I'd sell out my brethren now? I'm d-dying, you can't offer me anything."Beshte defied in a weak voice, his body shaking from the pain.

"I'm offering you the chance to do the right thing, the chance to save those children." Ray replied trying to appeal to any sense of good left in the dying mammal.

"Those c-children are part of f-family now, they serve the wave." Besthe slurred, his eyes becoming bleary as the blood drained from his body.

Ray knew he had no time to waste, Beshte could die any second, he unsheathed the claws on his left paw and dug them into Beshte's wound causing the hippo to let out an agonised cry. The white tiger kept up the pressure as he snarled "Where did Fuli take those kids!?"

Beshte gathered up his last ounce of strength and shouted "Those children will bring justice Zootopia! They'll make you drown in your own blood!" and then his body shuddered, his eyes closed and took his last breath.

Ray released his paw and let out a tired sigh, the mission had been a success; they had captured the Drowned's base and seized the majority of their weapons but the worrying issue was that Fuli was still out there with a small army under her control.

000

Alice stirred awake just before midday, she woke to find herself in the infirmary with Luna already awake, pottering around and tending to the medical equipment that Alice was hooked up to. Alice looked at her lover and asked drowsily "Have you even slept?"

"Hey you," Luna smiled, stopping what she was doing and stepping over to Alice to gift her a good morning kiss "and yes I did sleep, I woke up about an hour ago. So this is a dumb question but how are you feeling?"

"I'm not in pain, I just feel I've had a few whiskeys." Alice replied, wondering why she was feeling so buzzed.

"That would be all the pain killers you've had." Luna explained, pointing to the cannula in Alice's right paw that was linked up to a IV bag "You'll be on painkillers and antibiotics for a while, the last thing we want is that stump getting infected."

"So…how did it go?" Alice asked awkwardly.

"Well the op was a success, we cut away the excess flesh and managed to fuse-" Luna started to go into detail.

"No, no I meant with Robyn," Alice corrected "I saw her hang back after the others left, I tried to stay awake but I couldn't."

"Oh," Luna sounded, she then took a second and sat on the edge of the bed "well it went well."

"Really?" Alice gave a drugged up smile.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it really." Luna smiled back "She took everything back and apologised…that's enough for me."

"You really love your sister, don't you?" Alice asked warmly.

"I do, I mean I know what she said hurt both of us, but Robbie means too much to me, I couldn't stand losing her." Luna voiced her feelings.

"As long as you've made peace that's all that matters…now we just got to get her used to me." Alice gave a nervous laugh, looking away slightly.

Luna put a gentle paw on Alice's cheek and willed "Look at me, I'm going to be with you every step of the way, my family is a little crazy but you're going to be part of it. And if you think my family in Zootopia were bad wait until you meet the ones in Bunnyburrow."

Alice's heart soared at the words and she couldn't help but happily whisper "Family." But then the bunny spotted something on the small table on the side of her bed; one of her retro sailor moon t-shirts, her purple leggings and some clean undies "What are my clothes doing here?"

"Jasiri brought them." Luna answered.

"Wait, Jasiri was here?" Alice asked again.

"She still is. Kion told Jasiri that you were injured, she was so worried he brought her to theBunker but you were asleep. Kion's just showing her around the place at the moment." Luna elaborated.

"I hope she wasn't too worried." Alice fretted.

"I think all of us we're scared, I nearly had a heart attack when I heard you were hurt." Luna confessed, unconsciously pulling Alice closer.

Alice nuzzled into the fur of Luna's neck making sure to mark her love before joking "Who knew doing the right thing would hurt so much?"

Luna just chuckled at this before peppering the bunny's face with small kisses then said "Come on, let's get that cannula out and get you changed out of that hospital gown."

It only took a minute for Luna to safely remove the IV cannula, she then pulled across a privacy screen just in case Kion and Jasiri returned while Alice changed. Luna helped Alice untie the ribbons at the back of the gown, Alice let the unflattering garment fall from her body but soon enough her eyes fell on the bandaged stump and she suddenly felt like putting on the hospital gown again just to cover it up. Luna noticed the uncomfortable look on Alice's face and asked"You alright?"

"It's nothing, just me being foolish." Alice dismissed.

"It's ok to talk about it." Luna pressed, softly stroking the fur on her girlfriend's shoulders.

"…I was already self conscious about my scars, the only mammals who've seen them are my master or lovers but this one feels worse than the others." Alice admitted, opting for her right paw to cover her stump instead of her naked form.

Luna sighed slightly before reaching out and started to unwrap the dressings around the stump causing Alice to gasp "What are you doing?"

"You're going to look at your new scar." Luna replied, continuing to remove the dressings.

"Why?" Alice asked, still confused and anxious.

"Trust me." Luna responded, as she peeled off the last bandage Alice let out a slight squeak of shock as she looked her newly formed stump, the fur has been completely shaved off leaving her pink skin on display, part of the skin was charred black from the improvised cauterisation along with burn marks rippling on the shaved flesh and a trio of thick and heavily stitched scars coursed across the stump.

"It's…" Alice choked, closing her eyes so she couldn't see the injury. But then she felt something soft and delicate touch the stump, she peeked open one of her eyes to see Luna crouched down kissing her scar.

"It's beautiful." Luna spoke honestly, before kissing another part of the stump.

"Luna." Alice breathed, startled by the affection.

"Never think that any of your scars make you less attractive, because they don't. Every inch of you is breath taking, scars and all." Luna said, standing up and pulling the rabbit into a hug.

Alice still felt self conscious but the love she was feeling overshadowed her negative thoughts, she hugged her vixen back and jested "You're only saying that because you have a scar fetish, you big perv."

A few minutes later the stump was rebandaged and Alice was fully dressed with the help of Luna and just as the vixen pulled back the privacy screen a excited voice yipped "Alice!"

The couple turned to see Kion and Jasiri walking into the infirmary, the spotted hyena hurried over to her best friend and began fussing over the bunny "Girl, let me get a look at you, does it hurt? Are you feeling ok? Why do you look high?"

"Jasiri, I'm ok." Alice eased, giggling slightly at how concerned her friend was "And I'm just little hazy from the painkillers."

"But your arm." Jasiri spoke in a sad voice.

"Look it was either I lost an arm or my life, I chose to chop off my arm." Alice explained.

"You chopped it off!?" Kion gasped at the new information.

"It was crushed under a massive crate, it was either sever it or let The Drowned kill me." Alice summarized.

"Besides, Olivia's building her a mechanized prosthetic that'll be stronger and more durable than her old arm." Luna added with a smile.

"When will the prosthetic be ready?" Jasiri queried.

"About two weeks, it's a complex piece of cybernetics that has to be tailor made for Alice." Luna answered.

Alice looked a little glum upon rehearing the time it would take for her new arm to be built, not because she felt bad about losing a limb but because she knew that the Yakuza could strike at any time. This expression didn't go unnoticed by Kion who called out "You're worried about the Yakuza, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Alice replied sounding tetchy "I'm going to be useless for the next two weeks, if they show up I won't be able to fight."

"Then we'll fight for you." Luna promised.

"You don't understand, these aren't your standard thugs." Alice worried out loud.

"And we're not standard mammals, we're team Ceartais." Kion encouraged.

"Ok, enough of the doom and gloom." Jasiri piped up "We need to celebrate!"

"Celebrate what?" Alice asked, her nose twitching slightly,

"A few things," Jasiri grinned "Luna coming out, you becoming a US citizen and the team finally on good terms with each other again."

"I guess things have been tense lately." Luna agreed "It'd be nice to let off some steam."

"Exactly!" Jasiri beamed "So Kion and me are going to throw a little get together at our place, just some good food, music and friends."

"That does sound nice." Alice nodded, but was dreading small talk with Robyn.

"Great me and my kitten will take care of everything, just come to our place for eight tonight." Jasiri chirped.

The mention of Kion's pet name caused Luna to burst out laughing "Hahahaha kitten!"

"Stop laughing." Kion responded, blushing under his fur.

"I'm sorry, but Jasiri got the name spot on." Luna snorted with Alice and Jasiri suppressing their own laughs "You're supposed to be this big macho hero but you're really a sweet little kitten."

"Yeah well, I bet Alice has some embarrassing nicknames for you." Kion countered.

"Well there a few names I call her in bed, there's Senpai and sugar t-" Alice began to spill the beans but Luna's paw quickly covered her girlfriend's mouth.

"Sshhhhh!" Luna stressed while Kion and Jasiri erupted with laughter.

000

Olivia knew she should be helping Marian decrypt the massive amount of data that Alice retrieved from The Drowned base but she needed to be somewhere else too, somewhere closer to her heart. Olivia was at the intensive care unit of The Mother of Mercy hospital in the Meadowlands, in Blake's private room with her Dads and Blake's uncles Remy and Emile. The medical team taking care of Blake were now confident that they could bring him out of his coma without him going into shock, the anaesthetic team were satisfied his lungs could breathe on their own so they took him off the ventilator and stopped the drugs keeping him asleep, now all they had to do was wait.

Remy and Emile were one side of the bed, holding their nephew's paw while Olivia was on the opposite side holding his other paw. "Why isn't he waking up?" Emile asked skittishly.

"All those anaesthetic drugs have been in his body for a few days, his liver just needs to process the last bits of it." David explained, him and Basil were stood behind Olivia.

"I'm just glad there's no lasting damage." Remy spoke "But he's tough like his mother was, he's got Bernadette's tenacity."

"I bet he was a total mummy's boy when he was kid." Olivia smiled, looking at her boyfriend and wishing he'd open his eyes.

"That's rich coming from you, daddies' girl." Basil chuckled, gently patting his daughter's head.

Then a slight moan from Blake halted the conversation, everyone looked to the injured rat with hope, "Blake?" Olivia asked.

Blake slowly opened up his eyes, squinting as his vision adjusted to the light, in a raspy voice he spoke "Where?"

Remy heeded the medical team's advice and spoke softly "Blake you're in the hospital, you were injured."

"R-R-Rattigan." Blake stuttered out, wincing in pain.

"Forget about him." Olivia willed, leaning in and kissing her boyfriend's cheek.

"Olivia." He replied with a sleepy smile.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Olivia greeted, tears of relief rolling down her cheeks "you had us scared there for a moment."

"I feel sore…what did he do?" Blake asked, hissing slightly with pain.

"The doctor will explain everything." Emile assured with a big smile "But the point is you're going to be ok."

"That b-bastard." Blake cursed before coughing.

"You don't have to worry about Rattigan anymore." Basil said, still feeling guilty for causing Blake so much torment.

"Y-you mean he was arrested?" Blake cracked a smile.

"He was but…well he was killed." David answered, unsure of how Blake would take the news.

"He's dead?" Blake choked, his tired expression unable to hide his joy at this news "Well, what happened?"

Olivia took a breath and tightened her grip on Blake's paw. She needed to be honest with him, about her alter ego, her link with Rattigan and what she nearly did, Olivia was tired of hiding this secret from the mammal she loved "I need to tell you some things first."

000

Chief Judy Wilde was not a happy bunny, she was having the work day from hell. Of course, there were the usual pressures of being precinct 1's chief but add the fact that she had to approve the budget for next year, go over potential new candidates from the European recruitment program, have a meeting with Skye to go over the Drowned crisis, it was already gearing up to be a busy day. But she had just received an email that internal affairs would be investigating a large number of her officers and herself in regards to the murder of Professor Rattigan while he was in police custody. Internal Affairs were convinced dirty cops had killed the drug lord in a bid to stop him flipping on all the officers on his payroll in exchange for a plea deal, Judy hated to admit it but it was very plausible theory. The officers guarding Rattigan were conveniently tranq'd and all security camera footage from the night of the murder had been wiped, either the murderer had a lot of connections at the hospital or they used their authority as a cop to cover up the crime.

Judy had just finished typing her reply to internal affairs saying that she would fully comply with their investigation when a knock came at her office door. In a vexed voice she said "Come in." not even looking up from computer screen.

"And good afternoon to you to Carrots." A familiar voice crooned from the doorway.

Judy's amethyst eyes shot to doorway to see her husband Nick, looking at her with a suave smile, casually leaning on the doorframe with a bright bouquet of roses in his paw. "Nick." Judy said with surprise, he was last mammal she expected to walk through her door.

"The one and only." Nick replied, waltzing in and closing the door behind him.

Judy eyed the flowers and asked in a suspicious tone "What are you doing here?"

"Well today is my lucky day fluff because guess what? Ben phoned in sick, so today I'm completely free from the aussie nanny and get to go wherever I want and I couldn't think of anywhere else I'd rather be than with you." Nick charmed, walking over to Judy and handing her the bouquet of flowers.

Judy smelled the flowers and cooed "Aw, Nick you old romantic, this is so sweet…Wait a second!" Judy's tone changed and her eyes narrowed "Is this a ploy so we'll have a quickie?"

"Madame I am shocked, a respectable politician such as myself would never trick his beautiful police chief like that." Nick feigned being insulted, before slyly grinning "Unless you're offering?"

"I'm not," Judy replied flatly, getting out of her chair and grabbing a vase off the windowsill for the flowers "remember the last time we did it in an office? We got caught."

"Oh well that would've been a nice bonus," Nick shrugged "but that's not the reason I'm here sweetheart, we're going to a food truck for lunch just like when we were partners."

"Oh Nick, I'd love too but I'm completely swamped with work." Judy groaned, taking her water bottle and emptying it into the vase full of flowers.

"That's exactly why you need a break, I took a peek at your schedule and you've been working nonstop since we came back from Bunnyburrow." Nick replied "All I'm asking is for an hour, two tops so you can recharge the old batteries."

"I'm sorry but my workload is crazy plus I have a meeting with Skye later." Judy explained, sounding fed up.

"Then delegate some of your work to your captains, Bogo used to pull that trick all the time when he was chief. Come on you know want to, I might even take you shopping on the way back to the precinct." Nick teased, wrapping his tail around his wife.

"Delegating my work is an abuse of power," Judy huffed in annoyance "look this was a nice idea, but maybe another day."

"Ok, ok," Nick sighed in defeat, opening his arms for a hug "can at least get a hug and a kiss?"

"Sure, you dumb fox." Judy smiled, falling into Nick's embrace and kissing him tenderly.

Nick ended the kiss and whispered "Don't hate me for this."

"What do you-Whoa!" Judy began but was lifted up by Nick and slung on his shoulder in a fireman's hold.

"You'll thank me for this later Carrots." Nick laughed, getting a tight grip on Judy and heading for the door.

"Nick put me down this instant!" Judy shrilled, trying in vain to wriggle free as Nick opened the door of the office and carried her through the precinct.

"Not a chance, you're one stressed bunny and you need to relax." Nick laughed, noticing some of the cops laughing at the scene.

"You want to know why I'm stressed? Because my idiot husband pulls stunts like this!" Judy snapped, still trying to escape.

"Don't you mean 'Grand romantic gestures'?" Nick smirked, walking down the stairs.

Judy spotted Clawhauser at the top of the stairs recording the entire incident on his phone "Clawhauser! Get him off me!"

"Not a chance Bun Bun, have fun at lunch, I'll hand the paperwork to the captains." Clawhauser waved off with a hearty laugh.

Nick had let go of Judy two minutes after they left the precinct, she was in an even fouler mood as they walked to the food truck, her cheeks puffed up in annoyance and her nose held high. It was only when the couple sat down to gorge on the spicy cricket burritos they ordered from the food truck that Judy half smiled "I hate you, dumb fox."

"Translation: Thank you Nick, this was a wonderful idea." Nick played, munching on the burrito.

"Ok you were right, I needed a break." Judy admitted between bites of the spicy treat, the spices tickling her taste buds and triggering memories of her early days on the force "This takes me back."

"I remember this first time you came here you were still a herbivore, you always took the veggie option." Nick reminded.

"Oh yeah, it was only when Luna dared me to eat meat at Nala's barbeque that I started ordering cricket burritos." Judy remembered she then sighed "Did you think the girls have patched things up yet?"

"I don't know, but my folks seem confident they can through to Robyn." Nick said, remaining positive.

"I hope so." Judy said glumly, hating that her daughters were fighting.

"Hey, chin up Carrots, this lunch break is about relaxing not dwelling on your worries." Nick smiled.

"Well I do remember a certain fox saying he'd take me shopping on the way back to the precinct." Judy grinned slyly.

"Your wish is my command, m'lady." Nick replied theatrically with a little bow.

After they finished their burritos they two walked hand in hand towards the small farthing wood open market that dealt in clothes, jewellery and souvenirs. The farthing wood market was well known in Zootopia for independent seamstresses that sold clothes you couldn't find in any shop, Judy had been coming here for years and always left with a couple of new outfits. Nick had already bought Judy a new skirt and shirt when she spotted something new in the marketplace; a small purple fortune teller's tent, she ran over like a giddy child and pointed at the sign "Nick, look at this!" she gushed.

Nick walked over and read the sign aloud "The Amazing Alec-Azam: Fortune teller, tarot card reader and medium. Have your future told for $40."

"Let's go in!" Judy chirped, it was common knowledge that rabbits were superstitious mammals who believed in luck and good fortune.

"This is a hustle, fluff." Nick shot down.

Judy faked a sad look and a quivering lip before adding "Pleeeeeeeease?"

"Tch, fine." Nick caved.

"And no being a jerk and calling out any flaws." Judy warned, walking into the tent.

"Ruin my fun, why don't ya'?" Nick whispered, following Judy, he pushed through the curtained doorway and was met with a stereotypical scene; the light was low, a small table with three chairs in the centre, trinkets and crystals dotted around the place and the smell of incense hung heavy in the air.

"Good Afternoon, Chief and Mayor Wilde." A welcoming voice greeted, Nick and Judy looked to the back of the tent to see a white buck rabbit barely out of his teens putting a book back on a shelf, he was dressed in loose fitting black sequined shirt and matching black jeans.

"Wow he knows our names, he really must be psychic!" Judy yelped happily.

"Actually I've seen you two on the TV." Azam cleared up "I must say you two are the most famous mammals I've had in my tent."

"Well Carrots here loves this sort of stuff." Nick responded, the sweet incense irritating his nose.

Azam sat down at the table and asked "So what can I do for you today? A card reading? Trying to reach someone in the great beyond? Or would you like to know your future?"

The Wildes both sat down, Nick got out his wallet and signalled to Judy "It's your choice sweetheart."

"Oh, um, they all seem so good but how about you tell us the future of our family?" Judy asked, her thoughts immediately going to Luna and Robyn.

"Of course, that'll be $40." Azam replied, opening his paw ready to receive his fee.

Nick handed over the cash begrudgingly and groused "Make it a good one will ya'."

"I can only tell you what will be," Azam replied putting the money in a red lockbox before outstretching both his paws "now please let's join hands."

Nick and Judy linked paws and gave their spare ones to Azam, the buck bunny closed his eyes and chuckled "Well it's obvious the Mayor doesn't believe in any of this but you chief, you're like an open book."

"Oh?" Judy sounded.

"Hmm, both you and husband share a common fear," Azam noted, his eyes still clasped shut "your daughters, they had a fight…a really big one. You fear that their bond beyond repair."

"How did-" Nick began.

"Sshhh!" Judy hushed "Let the guy do his work."

"You two have nothing to fear, they have already made up, their love is too strong to die." Azam assured with a smile but soon the smile faded and was replaced by a frown.

"Uh, what's with that look?" Nick asked, wondering if this was part of the con.

Azam suddenly let go of Nick and Judy's paw and snatched his own back as if he had been burnt, he scrambled at the money box got out the forty dollars Nick had paid him "Sorry about this, seems my gifts are on the fritz, here's a full refund." He babbled, placing the money on the table.

"Whoa, hang on a second, what did you see?" Judy demanded with a worried look in her eyes.

"I didn't see anything, like I said my gifts aren't working."Azam dodged.

Nick studied the buck's expression, either he was an extremely gifted actor or he had seen something that spooked him. Nick slid the money back towards Azam and said firmly "Tell us."

"Look…look I can't sense actual events but I can sense emotions and souls but something bad is about to happen to your family, when I look into your immediate future all I sense is pain and grief." Azam explained with a solemn expression.

"Pain and grief?" Judy repeated, her ears going droopy.

"But out of that pain, hope and happiness will rise, your family will bounce back and grow." Azam added.

"What do you mean grow?" Nick asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, spoiler alert, in a few years you're going to be grandparents." Azam smiled.

"What?" Nick reacted, clearly unconvinced.

"I'm going to be a grandma!?" Judy shrieked, her grim feelings suddenly vanishing "A little grandkit, aw I can't wait."

"Actually, it's more than one." Azam smiled, holding up six fingers. While Judy was happily focusing on the far future, Nick's mind was on what was coming just around the corner. Nick was an expert at spotting a lie and Azam wasn't fibbing, leaving Nick with a sense of dread of what awaited his family.

000

Kion was listening to the sound system in his apartment's lounge with a serious look on his face, the lion had been busy preparing his home for the get together with the team, it was actually the first time that all his friends would come over socially and he wanted it to be perfect. He wanted tonight to be a fresh start for the team, to bury the hatchet with all the negativity that had plagued the team over the last few weeks. Him and Jasiri got drinks and snacks from the store, Jasiri was cooking up two batches of chilli, a veggie one and a turkey mince one while Kion cleaned the apartment and now that all that was done he needed to decide on the music. The Brit-Pop fan was listening intently to The Stone Roses when Jasiri walked in from the kitchen and asked "What the heck are you doing?"

"Do you think this is too strange for background music? I mean I could pick an Oasis or Blur album that's a little more mainstream." Kion fretted, searching through his vinyl collection.

Jasiri gave her signature laugh before saying "I think you're thinking way too much about this, it's just our friends coming over."

"But I want it to be perfect." Kion replied, his visible tick of his claws unsheathing and sheathing at great speed on show.

Jasiri walked over to her towering but cute boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek before soothing "It will be perfect because everyone's together, now go get a shower, they're going to be arriving soon."

"You're right," Kion sighed "I guess I am overthinking things, thanks Jasiri." Kissing his girlfriend before walking out of the lounge and towards the bathroom.

Just as Kion went out of sight a knock at the front door came, Jasiri glanced at her watch, it was only 7.30pm the guests weren't supposed to arrive until eight. The spotted Hyena trotted over and looked through the peephole and was met a strange sight that made her uneasy, all Jasiri could see was a yellow smiley face, she didn't know why but this made all her fur stand on end and made her want hide.

Then it came, the voice, a voice that sounded soft as rain but sharp as a dagger at the same time "Please, open the door."

Jasiri instinct was to bolt the door, call out for Kion then ring the police but she did none of those things instead she watched with horror as her paw reached to the locks on the door, she had no control of her hands, her mind screaming for her to stop, her voice trapped by some unknown force. Jasiri unlocked the door and opened the door and was met with a figure who seemed to have walked out of a nightmare; it was white male wolf with a gaunt face and figure, he was the scrawniest wolf Jasiri had ever seen, with an expensive brown waistcoat covering a tailor made white shirt and black trench coat with a faux fur trim draped over his shoulders like a cape. A katana rested in a black scabbard hanging from his belt but it wasn't the weapon that had Jasiri terrified, it was the wolf's eyes, or more specifically his left eye. Where an eyeball should be was a glass eye with a yellow smiley face design on the front, Jasiri couldn't help but be drawn to it. Staring at it made her feel nauseous and weak at the knees, Jasiri knew this wolf was bad news but she suddenly powerless to resist.

"So you've been the gracious landlady taking care of my little dove?" The wolf smiled, his teeth as white as his fur.

"Little dove?" Jasiri managed to say, feeling the burn of stomach acid in her throat.

"Why I'm talking about dear Alice of course, I have missed her so." The wolf replied, stepping into the apartment and running his skeletal like paw over Jasiri's trembling face "And you're going to help me in giving her a greeting worthy of a monster."

(AN/DUN DUN DUN! Who is this wolf? How does he know Alice? And what's the deal with his eye? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC will be a sort of prologue for ziegelzeig 's spin off story Prey Upon so please join us for the beginning of a new saga in the Take A Stand series. Please review and C YA SOON...)


	53. The Crow, The Dove and The Pigeon

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of SOC and this one is rather special because it will act as a prelude to ziegelzeig 's upcoming spin off 'Prey Upon'. But before anything I want to wish an important Dev team member arthur-knight a happy birthday for tomorrow. As always thank you for your likes, reblogs, faves, follows and reviews. So without further ado, lets get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 52- The Crow, The Dove and The Pigeon**

Alice hadn't felt so lethargic in years, not since her gruelling training in her childhood had she felt so tired in the daytime. Luna had explained to her that she would feel like this for a about a week. Her body went through significant trauma and any normal mammal would be still in bed, but Alice was the opposite of normal. The vixen and doe had spent the majority of the day in the prosthetic labs of Dawson tech where the engineers in Olivia's employ had measured up Alice's new arm and also performed a small procedure where the attachment sockets were grafted onto her stump, the local anaesthetic just added more to Alice's already drowsy state and a few times through the day Luna let her girlfriend latch onto her and snooze.

By the time they were finished at the lab it was almost time to meet up at Kion and Jasiri's apartment. The couple quickly stopped off at a liquor store and bought a case of beer before driving to the Outlander apartments. As Luna parked up her Bugatti she spotted some familiar faces in the parking lot, she saw her grandparents along with Kodi and Olivia climbing out of the elder Wilde's jeep.

"Hey!" Kodi waved happily at Luna and Alice.

"Hey." Luna replied, getting out of the sportscar, going over to the hood of the car and opening up the very small trunk space to retrieve the beer.

"You two left the bunker before we arrived, we were a little worried." Robin senior confided, holding a shopping bag with a couple of wine bottles in it.

"Sorry, we went to Dawson tech to get Alice measured up for her prosthetic." Luna quickly apologised, shutting the ridiculously small trunk.

Alice had taken a little longer to exit the car and was struggling to get her sports bag un-wedged from under her seat but a helping paw soon came to her rescue "Easy now, Alice my dear. I've got it." Marian said softly freeing the sports bag containing Alice's katana and gear.

Alice was caught off guard by the gesture and the fact that Marian had called by her real name and not 'Ronin', reacting with a fumbled " _Merci_ Mrs. Wilde." and a hasty bow

Marian gave a light chuckle before saying in a more serious tone "For how I treated you in the last few days, I'm truly sorry."

"No, No-" Alice began to react.

"Same here, Luna said you were a good mammal and we should've believed her, I'm sorry it took us so long to realise." Robin senior sincerely apologised.

"Please it's-" The flustered Alice tried to ease their worries but was interrupted again.

"What we're all trying to say is; sorry we were a bunch of arseholes." Olivia summed up, the mouse perched on Kodi's shoulder.

Alice was a little overwhelmed by the kind words, but she composed herself and replied humbly "Thank you, you're all very kind but one good deed and losing an arm doesn't make up for the things I've done, especially against Team Ceartais."

"Well tonight will be a good starting point." Kodi said in a positive tone.

"And after a whole day of staring at a computer screen I need to unwind." Marian moaned, walking to the apartment building's entrance with everyone following behind the matriarch.

"Still no luck with decryption?" Luna asked, genuinely interested.

"My bet is The Drowned have some pretty elite hackers and programmers in their ranks, I'm the best at what I do and even I'm having trouble. I left a decryption programme running back at the bunker but it'll be another day before it's completely done." Marian explained, sounding irked at the situation.

"The sooner we figure out what The Drowned are up to, the better," Olivia commented, sitting comfortably on Kodi's shoulder.

"Let's forget about The Drowned for now, I want to hear about Blake." Luna changed the subject as Alice used her key fob to unlock the main entrance allowing the group to walk into the building "How was he when he woke up?"

"He's still got his charm," Olivia smiled "the doctors say he'll be in hospital for another couple of weeks but he'll make a full recovery."

"And how did the other thing go? You told him about Spitfire, right?" Robin sr. queried.

"Let's just say I blew his mind, I told him and his uncles everything…and they're all cool with it, it's a big relief actually." Olivia revealed.

"Great, now everyone is out to their families." Marian said, tired of keeping secrets.

"Nala and Simba don't know about Kion yet." Kodi corrected, pressing the call button on the elevator.

"Bollocks," Marian groaned "he really needs to get a move on with that."

"I think he's taking them to see Kiara tomorrow, he'll probably tell them then." Olivia mentioned, the elevator door opened and everyone piled in.

Luna pushed the button for the third floor and the doors began to close but just as it was almost shut a holler of "Hold the door!" was heard, Luna stopped the door closing with her paw, tripping the sensor and causing it to reopen and reveal the breathless couple; Hannah and Robyn. "Thanks Lu." Robyn panted but soon realised that Alice was stood right next to Luna and let out a quiet "Oh hey, Ronin."

Hannah cleared her throat, signalling Robyn to correct herself "Alice, I meant Alice."

" _Bonsoir_." Alice replied politely, feeling sure that Robyn felt just as awkward as she did.

"Well are you getting in or are you two going to stand there like gormless idiots?" Olivia teased.

"R-right." Robyn reacted, stepping into the elevator with Hannah deliberately positioning herself so Robyn had to stand next to Alice.

As the door closed and the elevator started moving Hannah tapped Robyn's leg with her cane, egging her on to start a conversation, Robyn grimaced slightly before opening awkwardly with "So, uh, Alice, that's a nice t-shirt you're wearing."

"Oh, _merci._ " Alice smiled genuinely, she was wearing one of her favourite retro t-shirts with the magical bunny girl Sailor Moon designed on it "I found it at a vintage shop in Seattle a few years back, I loved Sailor Moon growing up so I just had to have it."

"Never had you pegged as an anime fan." Kodi responded with a grin "But I never pictured Robyn being into a nerdy fandom either."

"Dude, shut it." Robyn warned the wolf.

"Oh you're an otaku too?" Alice nearly gasped "Which fandom do you like?"

Before Robyn could dodge the question Olivia sniggered "Disney princesses."

"Olivia!" Robyn whined.

"So that's why Hannah calls you princess." Alice smiled, trying to be friendly "That's so kawaii."

Robyn knew that kawaii meant 'Cute' and was about to snap at Alice for calling her that but then she remembered that the swordswoman was a bunny and could use the word freely. Everyone could sense how flustered Robyn was and were struggling to contain their laughter. "Guys." Robyn cautioned.

But they couldn't contain any longer and everyone burst out laughing except the embarrassed Robyn and the oblivious Alice. "I hate you all." Robyn pouted.

"D-did I say something wrong?" Alice worried.

Luna eased her laughing before clearing up "No, it's just Robbie being Robbie."

Hannah latched on Robyn's arm and cooed "My super kawaii princess." Before kissing her on the cheek.

The lift doors opened and Robyn was happy to be free of the most awkward elevator ride ever, she tried to regain her cool and asked "So which one is Kion and Jasiri's door?"

"Number 34." Kodi remembered, walking out the elevator "Kion text me ten minutes ago saying the door's open."

Robyn was the first to reach the door but when she opened it up and stepped inside a slightly frightened "What the hell?" escaped from her lips. Stood by the sound system was a terrified Jasiri with tears in her eyes, holding a butcher's knife to her throat.

"Jasiri!?" Alice gasped loudly, wondering what on earth was happening as was everyone else who entered the apartment.

"R-run!" A deep voice struggled from the right corner of the room, everyone turned to see Kion naked and in Roar form with a petrified expression on his face.

"Kion? What's going on?" Hannah asked frantically, rushing over to her friend.

"No don't!" Kion yelled, his massive paw shooting forward and ensnaring Hannah's slim frame in a flash.

His grip was tight enough for Hannah to start wheezing "Kion!?"

"Dude, what the fuck!?" Robyn snarled, she was about to charge over when a soft voice cut in.

"Such vulgarity, how shameful." The voice was coming from the kitchen.

Alice recognised the voice in an instant, her heart began to palpitate, her body tensed, every instinct in her body was telling her to run but it was too late she had walked into the trap, his trap. The owner of the voice stepped out of the kitchen and the sight of him made Alice tremble with terror. The wolf with the smiley face eye ignored Alice for a moment and spoke directly to Robyn "You should watch your language child."

"And who the hell are you, dickhead?" Robyn snarled, ready to leap at the wolf and rip his other eye out.

"Robyn, please…" Alice whimpered "Don't test him."

Luna read her girlfriend's face and could see the fear in her golden eyes "Alice, who is this wolf?" the vixen asked cautiously.

Alice went to open her mouth but no words came as if the fright was caging her voice. Robin sr. took note of this and answered in her stead "The white crow himself, Karakuri Kakei of the Mokusai clan." The old vigilante stepping in front of Alice and Luna, shielding them.

"Or Karasushiro if you want to be polite and use my mother tongue." Karakuri pointed out "Although I must say I'm surprised that you've heard of me, have we met?"

Robin sr. then said in perfect Japanese "A lifetime ago, it's hard to forget someone like you." No one else except Alice and Karakuri could understand the old fox.

"Hood? Hood is that you? You old thief, I barely recognised you, time has not be kind to you." Karkuri chuckled in Japanese.

"And you haven't aged a day." Robin sr. replied, his Japanese still fluent after so many years.

"Well I hate to be rude but I can't have you eavesdropping on my little chat, so goodnight." Karakuri grinned before snapping his fingers, suddenly Robin sr. fell to the floor as he forced into a sleep state.

"Robin!" Marian yelled, rushing to her husband's aid.

"Grandad!" Robyn and Luna shouted in unison.

"Now, now ladies calm yourselves," Karakuri crooned, switching back to English "he's only sleeping."

"Alice I thought you said the Yakuza were after you, what's this guy's deal?!" Kodi freaked.

"It's…it's his skills." Alice finally spoke up, afraid to look into the false smiley eye.

"That's an oversimplification." Karakuri said, his tone gentle but dominating "Let's say I have a talent for making mammals do my bidding and believe when I say I can make them do anything; such as slice their own throat or crush the life out of one of their dearest friends."

"What do you want!?" Olivia barked, itching for a fight.

"Well the first thing I want is for that young wolf there to shut that door, I don't want us being interrupted now." Karakuri answered.

Kodi looked to Olivia on his shoulder who nodded at him to comply, Kodi closed the front door and asked in a scared manner "Why are you doing this? Why are you making Kion and Jasiri do this?"

"I thought that was obvious," Karakuri scoffed "insurance of course." He then slithered over to the terrified Alice and added "I want to make sure my little dove will return to her cage."

"Get away from her." Luna snarled, baring her fangs.

"Luna, no!" Alice suddenly panicked "Don't try anything!"

"Oh Kirabito," Karakuri tittered "Oni would be so disappointed in you. You've made this so easy for me, I bet you'd rather die than see any of these mammals suffer, wouldn't you?"

Alice remained silent, too afraid to talk to Karakuri directly or look him in the eye, she felt like she was seven years old again, when she met him for the first time, that fear had never left her. Karakuri then requested "Look at me, child."

Alice eyes remained pointed down, she didn't want to face a living, breathing nightmare.

Karakuri was fed up with being ignored so in a demonic growl he ordered "Look at me."

The hellish voice stoked more terror in the lapin's soul and she gave into Karakuri's demand, she lifted her head and looked up at the wraith like wolf, she could hear her own hammering in her chest as she was forced to gaze upon the smiling assassin.

"My little dove, I have missed you." Karakuri said in mellow tone then motioned to Alice's stump "But it looks like someone's clipped your wings, such a pity."

"P-please let them go," Alice managed to say "I take full ownership of my crimes, they had nothing to do with it, they're innocent."

"Well that lovely hyena over there is an innocent civilian, the rest of your friends are warriors, just like us. The famous Team Ceartais, I was very surprised that you had made an alliance with them and even more surprised that you'd taken one as a lover." Karakuri toyed, taking note of the team's shocked expressions "You shame yourself by falling so low."

"How do you know who we are!?" Robyn asked, keeping one eye on Hannah.

"I have my ways." Karakuri swerved "But allow me to inform you of how this is going to play out, I'm going to have a conversation with Alice and you're going to stay perfectly still. If you make attempt to interrupt, call for help or escape; Jasiri will slit her own throat and Kion will crush every bone in Hannah's body. Do we understand each other?"There was no answer but the expressions on their faces spoke volumes, they weren't going to chance anything.

Alice looked at the horrified Jasiri across the room and tearfully reassured "It's going to be ok."

"Well that depends on you." Karakuri snorted, returning to speaking Japanese.

"Have you come to bring me back for execution?" Alice asked back, also speaking Japanese, knowing that speaking in English would probably lead to dangerous consequences for her friends.

"No." Karakuri answered, surprising the bunny "Nor do I plan to kill you, like I said earlier I want my little dove to go back into its cage."

"You mean for me to serve the Mokusai clan once more? But the boss would never accept this, I dishonoured-" Alice rambled before being interrupted.

"You will be serving me and me alone." Karakuri corrected.

"I…I don't understand." Alice replied, completely flummoxed. She knew that Karakuri had many apprentices under his wing, so why would he want a one armed traitor in his ranks?

"You've been gone from Japan a long time, the clan has grown into a bloated mockery of what it used to be, we are richer than ever but the clan had lost it's way…it's time for a regime change." Karakuri explained with a devilish grin.

"W-What? You want to replace Boss Orobishika?" Alice stammered, hardly believing what she was hearing.

"More like cull him and all those who stand in my way. And that's where you come in." Karakuri clarified.

"Me?" Alice replied meekly.

"You are going to be my weapon, I'm going to give you targets and you're going to kill them, clearing me of suspicion. No one will doubt the story that the dishonourable Kirabito has returned to Japan to get revenge on the clan that wronged her." Karakuri elaborated "When that footage of you killing Hamada fell into my paws I felt like it was fate, no one else has seen it, only I know that you're alive and I'm the only one who can use you."

"B-but I've only got one arm! I'd be useless to you." Alice protested, not wanting to return to her life as a slave, death was a better option.

"Alice we both know that you're the most skilled sword wielder that the clan ever had, a missing arm will not lessen that brutality." Karakuri insisted, his bony paw cupping Alice's face "You will come with me or your friends will suffer the consequences, oh and if you think about escaping once we get to Japan I will find and torture each and every one of these mammals until they beg for death."

Alice was trapped, an invisible chain had been clasped around her neck, she was a slave once more. She had no choice, she knew Karakuri would keep his word about killing everyone else in the room. The rabbit felt like falling to her knees and screaming, but she steadied herself she couldn't allow her spirit to break, she needed to be strong, she had found happiness in Zootopia and she wasn't about to let that go. Alice would go back to Japan with Karakuri but she would be dammed if she'd let him steal her happiness, she would break her chains and come home. "I understand, I'll come peacefully, just don't hurt my friends." Alice responded, still feeling dread when she looked upon his face.

"As long as they don't do anything stupid." Karakuri reminded "Now, tell them that you're leaving but don't mention anything about the clan."

Alice took a deep breath and turned to the mammal she loved, Luna, took hold of her paw and said in English with teary eyes "I have to go with him."

"No," Luna said forcefully, her grip on Alice's paw tightening "no you can't!"

"Alice if you go, you'll die." Olivia stated but deep down she knew the bunny didn't have a choice in the matter.

"I have to, if I don't go with him now, all your lives are forfeit." Alice replied, hating the fact that she was causing Luna so much pain.

"Starting with Jasiri and Hannah, so please be on your best behaviour." Karakuri goaded.

Luna let go of Alice's paw and growled at Karakuri "You won't take her, we'll stop you."

"Even with innocent lives at risk you still defy me, you are a strange one Dr. Wilde." Karakuri sniggered "Why don't we test that fiery personality of yours?"

"Luna, step back…" Alice implored, trying to get her love to back down.

"If you can land a punch on my face, I'll let Alice and everyone else go, how about it?" Karakuri bated, pushing Alice against the wall so she was out of the way

Luna replied by throwing a quick jab towards Karakuri's face that he dodged easily before blocking the follow up jab and slamming his elbow into Luna's jaw stunning the vixen. Robyn was about to jump to her sister's aid when Alice shouted "Don't he'll kill Hannah and Jasiri!", Luna shook off the dazed sensation from the jaw strike and threw a powerful punch up at Karakuri's muzzle which he weaved away from before grabbing Luna by the arm and throwing her over shoulder, slamming her into the ground with force. Before Luna could get up and retaliate Karakuri kicked her in the side with enough strength she was spun flat onto her stomach, the wolf then forced his foot onto Luna's back and pressed down hard, pinning the vixen.

"I am disappointed." Karakuri said with disgust "I expected a little bit of challenge from the great Andraste, but that was just pathetic, what does Alice see in a common piece of trash like you?"

"Please, let her go, she won't make anymore trouble I swear." Alice begged, fearful of Karakuri's unpredictable nature.

"A-Alice run…" Luna coughed, trying to escape the pin.

"You Dr. Wilde are not special, you're not a great warrior, you're just a socialite who puts on a costume. Like a filthy street pigeon trying to mix with a dove." Karakuri barbed "Maybe I should get Jasiri to run that knife across your throat, just to prove my point?"

"No!" Alice shrieked at the top of her lungs "Don't, I'll come, just don't hurt her."

Karakuri looked at the pleading lapin, ran his claws under chin and snorted "Fine, but be aware I'll torture her the most if you step out of line." The wolf lifted off his foot and Alice scrambled to her girlfriend in a heartbeat.

"I've got to go." Alice cried, stroking Luna's face.

Luna sat up and wept "You can't, I can't lose you, we just…"

Luna was silenced by a sudden kiss, after five or so seconds Alice pulled back and sobbed "I need you to listen to me; don't come after me."

"Alice I can't, I need you!" Luna rejected, pulling the bunny close and marking her.

"And I need to know that you and everyone else is safe." Alice sniffed, marking Luna back "We will see each other again."

Luna knew Alice was stuck in an impossible situation, she knew she had to let her go but her heart was breaking at the sheer thought of it "I love you." Luna cried deeply.

"I love you too." Alice reacted, her face soaked with her own tears and Luna's, the couple kissed once again, each of them savouring the sensations and taste knowing that this could well be there last.

"Kirabito, it's time." Karakuri said bluntly.

Alice began to rise to her feet and Luna tried to wrangle her girlfriend back down but was stopped by Robyn who was holding her back "Lu, listen to her, ok?" Robyn forced.

Alice stepped over to Marian and took her sports bag with her gear and Katana in it and whispered to the Wilde matriarch "Please look after her."

"Of course." Marian smiled sadly.

"Ok here's what's going to happen, Alice and I are going to walk out of this apartment and you're going to stay exactly where you are, if any of you attempt to leave this room, call for help or try to track us in the thirty minutes after we leave Jasiri will slit her own throat and Kion will kill Hannah. After thirty minutes, you'll be free." Karakuri said, gliding past everyone and opening the front door "Come along, little dove."

Alice took one last look at Luna, who was still being held back by her sister, tears streaming down both of their faces, this could be the last time they would ever see one another so Alice said without restraint "Luna Elise Wilde, you are the love of my life." She then turned around and walked out the door with Luna heartbroken screams following her, the lovers were torn apart.

000

Karakuri was telling the truth, as soon as thirty minutes past Kion let go of Hannah and returned to his normal form, Jasiri dropped the knife and ran over to Kion and bawled into his chest and Robin sr. suddenly woke up. As soon as Karakuri's 'Spell' was lifted the team raced out the apartment and back to the Bunker, except Kion who was comforting the traumatised Jasiri.

Luna was franticly getting geared up while Marian tried to track down where Karakuri had taken Alice; she checked cctv around the building, inspected passenger date for flights to Japan and even ran a facial recognition program for every security cameras in the city to try and pinpoint Alice…but they all came up with nothing. Karakuri had taken Alice and disappeared. Luna was raging and yelling ideas about heading to Japan to find her but she kept on being brought back down to earth by the rest of the team who told her; lives are at stake, that she didn't know where in Japan Alice was and that one wolf had managed to defeat them, if she went to Japan they'd be facing an entire Yakuza clan.

Luna felt helpless, she crawled up on the sofa in the observation deck and cried her heart out while Robyn and Olivia comforted her and reminded the vixen that Alice said 'They'll see each other again' but was of little comfort to the heartbroken archer. Luna had declared her love for Alice, the relationship with her family was on the mend and everything seemed to be going their way, but in the space of ten minutes Karakuri had shattered all that happiness.

Kion didn't go to the bunker that night but he kept messaging Robyn for updates while he comforted Jasiri, who had just been through hell and lost her best friend in the same evening. The spotted hyena woke up the next morning and realised she couldn't face joining Kion for his daily visit to Kiara, Kion hated to leave Jasiri alone in a depressed state but he really needed to be at the military hospital today as his parents were finally going to be reunited with Kiara.

The family arrived at North Howard Military base and we're escorted to the on site hospital, they were put in a waiting room until Kiara was ready to be seen. Kion had explained to his parents that Kiara was alive but he hadn't explained the circumstances but Nala and Simba didn't seem bothered with the details, they were just happy their little girl was alive. Simba was nervously clawing at his mane with Nala sat beside him trying to calm her husband down "It's ok, it's ok, it's just Kiara."

"Sorry, I just can't believe it, it's been so long." Simba breathed, anxious to see their daughter again.

Nala kissed Simba on the cheek before turning and looking at Kion who was leant up against a wall, looking somewhat nervous himself. Nala studied her son and noticed his face was stern, like he was thinking about something serious, she then asked the question "So did Ray tell you that they had found her?"

Kion shook his head and said "No, I was with him when they found her."

"What?" Nala queried "That doesn't make sense, why were you with Ray on a mission?"

"Look, before that, there's some things you need to know about Kiara's condition." Kion bridged.

"You said she was conscious and fine!" Simba immediately panicked.

"Easy, Dad. She is conscious and health wise she's fine…but there's been two complications."Kion spoke, going over and sitting in a chair next to his parents.

"What kind of complications?" Nala asked, her mind flooding with worry.

"Ok, a couple of years back Kiara was on a mission and she was injured, she was paralysed from the waist down but she was given an experimental implant in her spine that helped her walk again. When we found Kiara the implant had been damaged and to save her life the surgeons had to remove it, the bottom line is Kiara's a paraplegic, she's going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life." Kion explained, noticing how his parents' expressions changed while they were told this news, it went from sadness, to confusion then relief.

"It'll be tough for her but it doesn't matter, our girl's a fighter." Simba replied, knowing his daughter was not the type of person to buckle when tragedy struck.

"You said there were two complications." Nala pointed out, bracing herself for more bad news.

Kion sighed then continued "A side effect from the drug administered through the implant is memory loss, when we first found her she barely recognised me or Ray."

"She had amnesia!? Wait! How long has she been her?" Simba questioned, his tone frenzied.

"Four days, but she's made pro-" Kion began to answer.

"She's been here for four days and you didn't tell us!?" Nala snapped in a tone only a mother could muster.

"Look her mind is fragile at the moment, we've had to introduce things to her slowly so she can regain her memories, we need to be patient, this isn't an easy fix." Kion reasoned "But when I showed her a photo of you two yesterday, she said she remembered you but not everything, the doctors thought it'd be a good idea for you two to come today so her recovery can continue."

Nala was about to ask a follow up question when the Capybara doctor walked into the waiting room and said "You can see Kiara now."

Kion walked beside the doctor with Simba and Nala following behind, holding onto each other for strength. They walked into Kiara's room and Simba couldn't help but let a joyous cry escape when he saw the face of his daughter he once thought dead. She was in a wheel chair wearing a green t shirt with the Camelot emblem sewn on the chest and green camo pants, Ray was sat beside the timid looking lioness holding her paw. Nala saw Kiara's shy but inquisitive face and cried happily "Hey baby."

Kiara wheeled herself over to her parents and Kion, she looked at them in silence for a moment before speaking in a reserved tone "You're name is Nala, you're a cop…you drink way too much coffee and you can't cook."

"Yes," Nala sniffed and wiped away happy tears "yes that's right baby."

"And you're Simba, you work with computers but you always sewed and mended my girl scout uniform." Kiara managed to piece together when she looked at her Dad's face.

"That's me." Simba cried "Or you could just call us Mom and Dad."

"…Mom, Dad…I know you but bits of memory are missing, I need time." Kiara said, feeling somewhat ashamed of her memory lapses.

"It'll be ok, we're here for you." Nala assured.

Kiara then opened up her arms and asked in a timid manner "Can…can I have a hug?"

Nala and Simba didn't need asking twice, they had wanted hold their child for so long and now they could again, both parents loudly sobbing as all the pain and grief of the last six months was washed away. After about a minute the hug ended and Nala asked Ray "So where did you find her?"

Ray let out a tired groan and passed the book "Well I think Kion needs to fill you in on a few details first."

Simba and Nala looked to their son who was already looking nervous, the lion bit the bullet and began "So, you that group of super heroes Team Ceartais?"

While Kion was explaining what he did at night, on the other side of the base there was a much less stressful event transpiring. In Aleks' private quarters the silver fox was curled up on his bed with his girlfriend Zoe smuggled up close to him and using her fox's long and fluffy tail as improvised blanket while they watched a show on Alek's laptop. "I don't get why Alice recommended this show to you." Aleks commented in a chill manner, the couple were watching an old anime with the English title 'Your lie in April', Alice had told Zoe about it and since she was an anime fan too she decided to rope in her fox into watching it.

"Oh hush, this is really good." Zoe replied, feeling very comfortable in her boyfriend's embrace.

"We're two episodes in and this poor kid's reminiscing about an abusive parent, the cutesy art style is deceiving." Aleks pointed out in a jokey manner.

"Well it's better than all the fan service harem animes out there, so zip it and watch." Zoe responded.

Aleks chuckled and mimed zipping his mouth shut. The couple watched the rest of the episode and Aleks was about to start the next episode when Zoe spoke up "Hey, leave that a sec, I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh." Aleks sounded, returning his attention to the beautiful bat snuggled up to him.

"So Ray told me that they're going to be moving Camelot's permanent base from Germany back to the US, specifically this place." Zoe revealed.

"That's fantastic!" Aleks grinned.

"Wait, you're happy about this?" Zoe garbled, a little taken aback.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Aleks asked back.

"Well it's just when we started this thing it was a 'Friends with benefits' deal and now…ugh, this going to sound dumb." Zoe fumbled her words, acting uncharacteristically nervous.

"Go on, darling." Aleks urged with signature charm.

"Well what I'm trying to say is, I need some reassurance, now that I'm going to be living in Zootopia I want to make sure you don't feel trapped in this relationship." Zoe said, sounding vulnerable.

Aleks shook his head and let out a small laugh before pulling Zoe closer and saying "This is the opposite of a trap, right now I'm exactly where I want to be, with you. And I want to keep being with you…you can't get rid of me that easy Nightfall."

Zoe made a happy little bat squeak before kissing her boyfriend. When the kiss ended she was about to tell Aleks to play the next episode but then she spotted something out the window that made her fly out of Aleks' embrace and onto the windowsill "What the hell?" she gasped, trying to figure out what she was seeing.

Aleks joined her at the window and was equally puzzled, earlier today it had been a typical warm Californian day but now heavy snowflakes were falling to the ground "Where did this snow come from?" Aleks asked, knowing in his heart that something was seriously amiss.

000

In a small apartment in Savannah Central with a view of city hall from the balcony Fuli watched the citizens of Zootopia walk around with bewilderment as the snow began to fall around them, some reacted happily while others shivered by the sudden drop in temperature. The Drowned leader looked to city hall and wondered how Mayor Wilde was reacting to this unexpected weather, she pictured him yelling orders down the phone to the workers at the weather control plant, but it wouldn't do any good. The Drowned already had occupied the plants with some of the fellow cultists playing 'Hostages', even if Special Forces stormed the plants in the next few hours the damage had been done. This snowfall was the beginning of the end for Zootopia, in twenty four hours the Wave's will would be fulfilled and Fuli had a front row seat to the impending attack.

(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Is Alice truly gone? What's with the snow? What has Fuli got planned? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! Next time on SOC; while the city enjoys the unexpected snowfall the team scramble to figure out what's going on, Nick and Judy reach out to Ceartais and Robin and Marian track down a lead. Please Review and C YA SOON!)


	54. Snow

(AN/ Hey Folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with another chapter of Star of Ceartais, I want to thank all the lovely people who liked, faved, followed, reblogged and reviewed the last chapter and thank you to the dev team who help me craft a new chapter each week. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 53 – Snow**

By six am the next morning most of Zootopia was under a thick blanket of snow. ZNN was reporting the average amount across most districts had been 26 inches until the ZPD had taken control of the weather control plants and forcibly restrained all the engineers delivering the 'Tundra Town Program' across the city, they were arrested without saying a word, the typical behaviour of captured Drowned cultists. The ZPD had managed to stop the snow billowing out of the weather control plants but the temperature control was locked at below zero by a computer program of The Drowned's design, for the immediate future the snow was not going to melt. Not all of Zootopia was snowed under however, weirdly The Rainforest district and the canal district didn't have a single flake come from the weather control plants.

An emergency meeting was called by Nick to take place at city hall for 9am with Commissioner Bogo present, Judy, of course, Assistant Mayor Alana Clearwater, Skye and Jack representing the MCB, Ray from Camelot and the Team Ceartais plus Robin senior and Marian.

Nick's bodyguard Ben was letting mammals into Nick's office as soon as they arrived. It was about ten to nine when the fully uniformed Andraste and Scarlet walked in together to find their parents anxiously chatting. Judy eyes lit up when she saw her daughters walk in together without any tension "Girls." Judy chirped while walking over to them, sure that the sisters had made up "So things seem better with you two."

"Yeah Mom, uh, we're fine now." Scarlet replied, sticking close to a stoic looking Andraste.

"I'm sorry we haven't talked in a couple days but things have been crazy." Nick apologised, while motioning to the snow covered cityscape through the window.

"It's been kind of crazy for us too." Scarlet sighed, aiming a worried set of eyes at her big sister.

Judy read the heroines' body language and asked cautiously "Are you sure you guys are cool with each other?"

"We're cool…it's just something hap-" Scarlet began to explain but was cut off.

"Alice has been kidnapped." Andraste said abruptly.

There was a brief silence from the Wilde parents before Nick gawped "What?"

"She was kidnapped by someone she used to work for, Alice had to go with him or Hannah and Kion's girlfriend would've been killed." Andraste explained further with a stony face.

"Luna…" Judy muttered, processing the information before proceeding "sweetie, I'm so sorry, I'm sure…"

Luna noticed Judy coming in for a hug and stepped back before interrupting "Mom, I know you want to make me feel better but if I dwell on this now I won't stop crying, believe that's all I've been doing for the last 24 hours."

"We're going to fix whatever this mess is, then find Alice together." Scarlet promised, putting a paw on the archer's shoulder.

Before another word could be said on the matter Ben opened the office door to let the trio of Bogo, Skye and Jack walked in and in true Bogo fashion there were no pleasantries "So does anyone know what the hell is going on?" The Buffalo asked with his trademark grumpiness.

"No, sir not yet." Judy replied.

"The MCB has got nothing either, all the computers Camelot retrieved from The Drowned's boat are either trashed or highly encrypted."Skye informed.

"We've got someone working on that front too, hopefully she's made a break through." Scarlet added, flicking on her voice modifier on her collar.

Bogo looked down at the two costumed heroines and said "It's nice to finally meet you two, I just wish the circumstances were different."

"Same here." Andraste replied, keeping up her tough demeanour, she couldn't afford to break down right now.

The door opened once more and Ray and the remainder of Team Ceartais walked in with Bogo taking note of the elder Wilde's presence and asking Nick in a gruff tone "Why are your parents here?"

"They're Ceartais' support team." Nick answered with a straight face.

Bogo looked at the former vigilantes and huffed "You do realise you've reached your plea deal?"

"Really? I never would've guessed." Robin sr. reacted, feigning shock.

Before Bogo could reply Jack interrupted "We've been through it with them Mason, believe me."

"Can we focus?" Spitfire's synthesised voice shook the unfamiliar Bogo "We've got bigger things to worry about."

"Spitfire's right, The Drowned could be moving against the city as we speak." Ray agreed "The question is; what's with all the snow?"

"Well Basil's run tests on the snow and it's not laced with anything." Judy checked off a theory.

"It could be to block roads so emergency vehicles can't pass, maybe they're planning an attack like they did at the opera house." Bullet theorised.

"Snow ploughs are already being brought over from Tundra Town to clear the roads." Mage shot down Bullet's hypothesis.

"The Drowned could be trying to get folks out in the open, the streets are packed with families playing in the snow." Roar suggested.

"So all we have is guesswork at the moment?" Nick gave a tired sigh, he hadn't slept since this crisis started.

"I might have something," Marian spoke up, getting out her phone "after Ronin infiltrated the Drowned base she managed to get me some data from one of the laptops in their control room and I've been running a decryption program on it ever since."

"How long until it's fully decrypted?" Ray asked, not surprised that Marian had a head start on the intel.

"Eight more hours but out of the stuff I've mined so far I've found two items of interest." Marian answered, while swiping at her phone.

"And they are?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Back when The Drowned base was a casino/brothel ship they kept employee data for security purposes, I've found Fuli and Bunga's personal details." Marian answered, not looking up from her phone as she swiped at her screen.

"Can you send them over?" Judy asked urgently.

"Already sent to you, Skye and Ray." Marian responded "And the other thing is a conformation email for train tickets."

"Train tickets? To where?" Judy asked, wondering if one of the cultists got cold feet and was thinking of skipping town.

"It's a train from Bunnyburrow to Savannah Central train station, it leaves at 4.30pm." Marian informed "It's a single ticket for an Alpaca woman by the name of Florence Olson, I've done some digging on her, she's an elementary school teacher who went missing a week after the wave."

"Only one cultist? Maybe they're going to bomb the train?" Ray pondered aloud before dashing his own theory "But terror attacks like that need at least a four mammal team."

"So she could just be heading back to Zootopia for whatever The Drowned have planned?" Scarlet guessed "But I guess one of us should tail her just in case."

"No, all of the team needs to be in Zootopia in case things go south." Spitfire insisted.

"She's right, we'll need all the heroes we have if The Drowned try anything." Jack concurred "But we can't send any cops or MCB agents in case they're working with the terrorists, I mean we all know both departments have cultists hidden in the ranks."

"Then may I suggest my lady wife and I take this task?" Robin sr. offered.

"Dad, I don't think that's a good idea." Nick replied, not feeling comfortable with his retired parents back on a mission.

"Actually, it makes more sense for Robin and Marian to go, we know they're clean and they've got a direct line to the team if something goes wrong the train." Skye countered.

"But what about the decryption program running back at the bunker?" Roar queried.

"Well there are these amazing inventions called laptops and wi-fi." Marian answered sarcastically "I'll keep you all up to date with any other data I uncover."

"Sounds like a plan," Spitfire concurred "Team Ceartais will be on standby at the bunker in case anything occurs."

"And I'm moving Camelot operatives to different police stations around the city, that way we can have strike teams ready to respond." Ray added, knowing that Zoe and Aleks were already at precinct 1.

Nick still didn't like the thought of his parents tailing a terrorist but could see it was the best available option, he looked at his folks and said in a gruff voice "Just try and not to get into any trouble on the train."

"My little kit you should now by now that trouble usually finds us." Marian teased.

000

Marian and Robin sr. quickly returned to bunker to collect a few 'supplies' in case anything foul occurred on the train, after some hugs and wishes of good fortune from the team the elder Wildes made their way to the train station to catch the train to Bunnyburrow and lay in wait for the return train the cultist was going to catch. Now all the team could do was wait for the decryption to finish which would be just before 5pm or until an alert in city came up on the computer. Olivia figured it was going to be a long day and they probably wouldn't have the chance for sleep tonight so she ordered the majority of the team to nap in the bunk room while someone manned the observation deck and they'd switch up every couple of hours, it was just after half past four when Kodi walked up to the observation deck. Olivia was sitting on the desktop, typing away at her rodent sized keyboard, she noticed the wolf walk in and commented "Your not due on watch until five."

"I couldn't sleep anymore." Kodi answered, seeming uneasy.

The mouse was dressed in her flight jumpsuit in case she needed to get in her mech quickly, she was about to thank the wolf for showing up early until she noticed the troubled look on the canine's face "You doing ok, Kodi?" she asked.

"It's nothing." Kodi tried to play it cool, getting himself an energy drink from the mini fridge near the desk before settling down in a swivel chair for a mammal his size.

"You're a bloody awful liar." Olivia chuckled, rising out of her chair and walking across the desk "Come on, tell me your troubles wee wolfie."

"Like I said it's nothing, everyone else has got much bigger things going on." Kodi brushed off, opening the drinks can.

Olivia was not backing down, she just shook her head before racing up Kodi's arm before clambering up the side of his head and resting on top "Look, you can either tell me now or I'm going to spend the next few hours pestering you until you spill it."

Kodi knew Olivia's stubbornness would win out and he'd cave eventually so he gave up the act and asked "If I tell you something can you try not to laugh?"

Olivia resisted the urge to say 'Depends on what you tell me' and maturely promised "Sure."

"I'm scared." Kodi confessed, setting his drink down on the desk.

"Huh?" Olivia sounded, not sure if she heard the hero correctly.

"I said I'm scared, like stupidly scared." Kodi repeated, sounding ashamed.

Olivia took a moment before asking "What are you frightened of?"

"The Drowned, my friends getting hurt, me winding up dead. It's a bunch of things." Kodi listed, his voice sounding strained.

"Have you always felt like this?" Olivia asked, genuinely concerned for her team mate.

"No, it's been building up ever since the night we stopped that drug shipment." Kodi explained "Ever since I saw Robyn get shot."

"It really shook you up didn't it?" Olivia asked further.

"Yeah, Robyn and Hannah have been my best friends since kindergarten, I love them but when I thought Robyn was gone I'd never felt so sad. Then the whole '28 days later' thing happened but ever since that day I can feel the fear growing." Kodi told, glad Olivia was not making light of the conversation.

Olivia looked down and could see the sadness in the wolf's muzzle, he looked like a little kid for a moment but then she remembered that Kodi still was a kid, even though he was 15 he had seen and been through most adults would never experience. "It's ok to be scared." Olivia soothed.

"What?" Kodi uttered.

"Don't you think I get scared sometimes? I got my arse handed to me by Lily, I was nearly crushed to death, I was terrified and that wasn't the first time, I've been doing this superhero stuff for five years and there are moments I feel like a wee scared child." Olivia confessed "But that fear can be a good thing too."

"How?" Kodi asked in a confused manner

"Remember when you saved your family during the wave? Or when Sasha was abducted? I bet you felt scared then didn't ya'?" Olivia asked back.

"Well, yeah of course." Kodi replied, figuring that was obvious.

"Being scared keeps you focused, gets your adrenaline going and makes your priorities crystal clear. And in a crisis your priority has always been helping mammals. You're a great hero Kodi, but more important than that you're a great mammal." Olivia encouraged.

The kind words unshackled Kodi from his troubled thoughts, he looked up at his team leader and friend and smiled "Thanks Olivia."

"Anytime." Olivia promised, she then glanced at the one of the huge monitors and saw that the decryption had just finished "About bloody time, let's see what Fuli was hiding." She then hopped off Kodi's head onto his shoulder and ran down his arm to desk and picked up her small rodent sized keyboard, she opened the newly decrypted data and after a few seconds it was her turn to be scared, her voice was quiet and fearful as she muttered "Oh bollocks."

000

Robin sr. and Marian had arrived at Bunnyburrow with time to spare but they couldn't afford to be spotted by anyone from the Hopps clan so they just waited in the train station's waiting room for their return journey to arrive, they enjoyed a couple cups of coffee and a slice of Bunnyburrow's famous carrot cake while they waited. To the passer by, they just appeared like a normal fox couple in their sixties casually chatting and no one would guess that in the suitcases and bags they had with them were all manner of weapons, tech and other goodies waiting. The train arrived at 4.30pm exactly and in crowd of different mammals getting on and off the train they could spot the middle aged Aplaca, Olson, hurrying onto the train. Marian and Robin sr. had booked a first class private cabin on the train, just so they could get changed if things went haywire during the journey, the train pulled out of the station not long after they entered the cabin. While Marian busied herself with connecting her laptop to train wifi and subsequently the bunker, Robin sr. went to check on Olson the cultist under the ruse of heading to the dining car. The train didn't seem that busy, which was understandable seeing as it was the middle of the week and mammals didn't usually commute for work between Bunnyburrow and Zootopia but out of the half dozen mammals Robin sr. passed on the way to find Olson he noticed the shape of holstered handguns in three of the passengers' jackets, Olson was not the only cultist on the train. The old vigilante kept up the appearance of being regular passenger as he stepped into the next carriage but as soon as he scouted the carriage his stomach dropped with anxiety. Florence Olson was sat in her seat but in the seats around her were children of all different species. Robin sr. counted them quickly as he walked by, there was twenty eight of them, all wearing identical blue baseball caps with the words 'Zootopia Trident Academy'. They were the kidnapped kids, all of them brainwashed and creepily sitting in silence, as if waiting for something to happen. Robin sr. walked by the group of kids pretending to be on a field trip and noticed a couple more mammals with concealed weapons, he went into the dining car and quickly bought a blueberry muffin and a bottle of orange juice before making his way back to the private cabin. Robin sr. closed the cabin door and turned to Marian while saying "We may have a problem."

Marian who was typing away furiously at her laptop glance up at her husband with stressed eyes and grimaced "You have no idea."

000

Olivia pressed the alert button as soon as she read the first few lines of The Drowned's 'Snow Day' plan, a loud siren boomed around The Bunker ripping the bunking team members away from their sleep, the four ran for the observation deck and Olivia didn't even bother to star explaining stuff to them because she was in mid conversation with Marian online "Maid, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she asked, typing at a rapid pace.

" **Yes, dear. Suffice to say; we've got a major problem."** Marian replied, her voice was coming through the observation deck's speakers **"This 'Snow day' could be the biggest terror attack of the century."**

"Uh, mind filling us in?" Hannah asked in a worried tone.

"The Drowned have gas bombs! They'll kill thousands." Kodi answered, wondering how such a weapon could exsist.

"Whoa, back up, gas bombs, I thought this whole thing was to do with snow?" Robyn asked in a tense manner.

" **Looks like guns and vehicles aren't the only thing Phelps gave the Drowned, turns out he gave them an illegal chemical weapon designated a 'Styx', it's a sand like substance that turns into a deadly gas when it comes into contact with water."** Marian informed over the comm link.

"That's why they needed the snow!" Kion realised "Normal rain would evaporate but they made it snow and kept the temperature below freezing."

"Also explains why The Drowned didn't make it snow in the Rainforest and Canal districts, there's water everywhere." Luna figured, itching for more info so they could solve this problem before it became a massacre.

"How deadly is this gas?"Robyn asked, sounding tetchy.

"When it's inhaled it rapidly corrodes the tissues inside your body, you basically drown in your own blood, it's like the gases they used in the old wars but just half a kilo of this sand could make about 200 gallons of Styx gas." Olivia explained hastily, still pouring through the data.

"Where are the bombs then? We need to deactivate them!" Robyn asked, growing increasingly anxious.

" **Ok so do you want the bad news or the worse news?"** Marian replied rhetorically " **The bad news is there are four bombs, the worse news is we can't find one of them."**

"What do you mean?" Kion asked, his voice full of dread.

" **There's a bomb in Savannah central but it's location is just marked as 'Undisclosed'."** Marian answered.

"So where are the other bombs?" Hannah questioned.

" **We got one in the Rainforest district mall that borders the Canal district, one in a Meadowlands park and the other one is on the train we're on."** Marian answered, knowing the last part of the sentence would cause panic.

"WHAT!?" Robyn and Luna shrieked in unison.

Marian ignored her panicking granddaughters and answered " **There's a bomb in the dining cart at the front of this train, according to these files The Drowned plan to trigger the bomb as soon as the Train enters Zootopia then spread as much gas as possible as it travels through the city."**

"Ok get off the train, we'll call Ray maybe can get the military to stop the train before it gets to the city." Luna offered in haste and worry.

" **Well here's some worse news, you know those kidnapped kids that Alice ran into on the boat? They're in the train carriage next to us."** Marian revealed.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Robyn cursed, pulling at her long ears "I can't believe I'm saying this but can you stop the train?"

" **Your Grandad is already getting changed into his old gear, we'll take care of the train, we need you guys to tell Judy, Skye and Ray all of this."** Marian ordered.

"Wait Maid, I just found something!" Olivia alerted "Apparently there's a second part of their plan called 'Shiny'"

"Shiny?" Kodi queried.

"It looks like The Drowned are going to distract the cops away from the bombs by attacking Precinct 1 and fool the public with some broadcast due at…holy crap it's due now." Olivia skimmed the data and read aloud.

Robyn grabbed the remote for the TV in the corner, turned it on and started flicking through the channels until she landed on ZNN where the snow leopard anchor Fabienne Growley was in sentence with an image of Fuli on the screen beside her **"And we're receiving a transmission from the leader of The Drowned, I've been told by producers we have to air it."**

The TV screen then showed Fuli donned in her tatty grey cloak looking directly at the camera, her green eyes were still but a little bloodshot as if she had been crying but what drew the team's attention was a small white severed arm hanging from a string around Fuli's neck. Luna felt a mix of sadness, rage and nausea as she looked at the paw and uttered "That's Alice's arm."

" **Mammals of Zootopia,"** Fuli opened with her signature serene yet spooky tone **"in the last two days many of my brothers and sisters have been either captured or killed by corrupt institutions this country is enslaved to. Our enemies bask in victory while they still pedal their stained ideals forcefully onto the populace but I speak to you today to prove that The Drowned don't abandon our family when they are ensnared by the so-called justice system. My demand is simple; release all Drowned prisoners in the next 87 minutes or…"**

The screen then switched to a live security camera feed of a train carriage filled with children wearing identical blue baseball caps, with gun wielding mammals patrolling the aisle. **"…these children's lives will be forfeit the moment this train enters Zootopia's city limits."**

"It's a ruse, to make sure no one tries to stop the train." Kodi sussed.

" **If any attempt is made to stop or board this train my brethren will kill the children. This train is due to reach Zootopia in 86 minutes, I'll leave this camera feed on so the corrupt government can see the price of trying to defy the Wave's will."** Fuli's voice then stopped and the cctv feed continued to show the child 'Hostages', the ZNN anchor Fabienne Growley then reappeared on screen but Robyn muted the TV as she started to frantically speak.

"We've got 86 minutes to save Zootopia…great." Kodi said nervously but lucky for him someone had already come up with a plan to stop the Drowned.

Olivia stopped typing and looked up at everyone then declared "Right we're going in two mammal teams, Robyn and Hannah you take the bomb in the Rainforest district mall, Kodi and Kion you two deal with the bomb in the Meadowlands and me and Luna to take care of the Savannah central bomb."

"Take care of the bombs? Olivia we can't do that." Hannah worried.

"Yes you can, we'll use the same tactic we used when stopped TNTiger, the disarm disks will shut down the electrics in the bombs while Hood can use his cryo arrows to free the bomb on the train." Olivia explained, her gifted mind figuring out a strategy quick.

"But won't liquid nitrogen trigger the bomb? You said water and the Styx sand can't mix." Robyn pointed out.

"The styx sand will be contained in a vile attached to the bomb, you're going to free the explosive and it's electronics before the timer goes off." Olivia made an educated guess.

"That's great and all but we don't where the fourth bomb is." Luna countered.

"True but I know one mammal who can figure a puzzle like this out." Olivia grinned confidently.

000

55 minutes remained before the train's styx bomb would trigger, the cultists were clearly inexperienced in holding hostages, soon after Fuli's broadcast a dozen of the armed terrorists rounded up any regular passengers and corralled them into the carriage at the back of the train but in their haste and excitement they had failed to check the first class cabins. Robin sr. and Marian could only shake their heads as they watched the hapless cultists patrol the train on the cctv feeds Marian had hacked but the child 'hostages' remained where they were seated with the alpaca Olson playing the concerned school teacher. The old vigilantes were waiting for the Drowned to take out the bomb, according the decrypted data the Drowned would take it out of its hiding place in the dining cart and place it near the passenger doors so when the styx bomb did go off it would billow through the doors and out through the city. Both Marian and Robin sr. had changed into their Maid and Hood guises from the glory days, although Marian had to wear her black work out pants seeing as she could no longer fit into her tight leather trousers. The Maid's navy eyes were trained on her laptop streaming the train's security camera feed while Hood was checking his arrows for the third time in twenty minutes "I'd never thought I'd wear this costume again." He chuckled.

"You, my dear look dashing as ever while my arse has gotten so fat I can no longer fit into my old trousers." Maid replied, flashing a grin at her husband. She had to admit it felt great to be wearing her vigilante uniform again.

"I'm a fan of your curves darling, you always make my heart race." Hood flirted, taking the Maid's paw and planting a delicate kiss upon it but he soon realised something "Wait where's your engagement ring?"

The Maid took her paw back and answered in an awkward voice "Back at the bunker."

"Why's it there?" Hood asked further, puzzled as to why she took off the engagement ring but had left her wedding band on.

"Well, I left for Hannah…just in case." The Maid answered quickly, trying to not make a big deal out of the situation.

Hood let out an audible grunt before criticizing "You know it's stupid to think that way, right? It's just like the Kensington job all over again."

"Oh come on that was fifty years ago, we were 15 for God's sake." Maid parried.

"You were 15 and left a last will and testament for your roommate at the boarding school giving her all your punk albums." Hood reminded.

"Ok so it's a little like the Kensington job and before you point it out; yes I know it's bad luck." Maid submitted.

"You worry too much, I thought I was the panicky goody two shoes and you were the rebellious punk?" Hood teased before kissing Marian.

The two enjoyed the kiss, it felt like the good old days when they were just starting out as a couple and vigilantes. The kiss broke and Marian's attention returned to her laptop, only to find that the Drowned cultists in the dining car (One of them being the dining car attendant) were pulling out a large metal cylinder out a storage compartment. "Looks like it's showtime." Maid grinned.

Hood stood up and offered his paw to his wife "Maid, may I have this dance?" he played.

Maid took the paw and stood up while chiming "But of course Hood, I'll take the lead." Glancing at the laptop one last time to see there were two cultists patrolling the corridor outside the cabin. The Maid fastened her purple coloured veil and gripped tightly onto her twin batons and kept watching the security camera feed, waiting for the right moment to strike. A young lynx cultist and armed with a handgun stepped right in front of the door, Maid kicked open the door causing the lynx to stumble to the side and drop the handgun. Before the feline could react a brace of blows from the Maid's batons struck the lynx in the head, rendering the cultist unconscious. A tapir cultist at the other end of the carriage shakily aimed his pistol at the Maid but before he could pull the trigger the hood had rolled out of the cabin and fired a tazer arrow at his chest, reducing the terrorist to a convulsing and knocked out heap on the floor. "Still sharp as ever." Maid complemented, crouching down and taking the lynx's handgun in case she needed it later.

"And you're still brutal after all these years." Hood returned, grabbing a few arrow from his quiver "Shall we go and save the city?"

"If we must." Maid kidded before walking towards the next carriage where the cultists and the brainwashed children were situated, she looked at the door and said confidently "Oo-de-lally."

"Oo-de-lally." Hood echoed, ready to face whatever The Drowned could throw at him.

(AN/ So what did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! Next time on SOC, the Zpd struggle to deal with the Drowned attacking the precinct, the team races to save the city and Spitfire and Andraste begin a desperate search for the final bomb. Please review and c ya soon...)


	55. Oo-de-lally

(AN/ Here's the chapter, not going to lie this one was tough to write, so without further ado let's cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 54 – Oo-de-lally**

Precinct 1 was in a state of chaos, no sooner had Fuli aired her demands for her fellow cultists to be freed, the remaining Drowned members had converged on the precinct and had started a firefight basically putting the building under siege. The Drowned had used the armoured troop carriers given to them by Phelps arms to create roadblocks around the precinct so backup from other stations couldn't arrive. Judy ordered for the main entrance to be barricaded and for the SWAT team to take up defensive positions, the battle had been raging half an hour and the ZPD had racked up seven Drowned kills but had lost two officers in the process. Aleks Rojek along with Zoe and Ray of Camelot were positioned on the roof of precinct 1 helping out the SWAT team take out the Drowned, Aleks had been responsible for two of the dead responsible and he was lining up his next target with his sniper rifle; a caracal perched on top of a Snarlbucks coffee shop taking shots at ZPD officers, the silver fox pulled the trigger and the cat was dead before the gunshot's echo faded "Target down." Aleks stated clinically, lying on his stomach on top the snow covered roof.

"And that's three to Foxy." Zoe said before asking out loud "Where do they keep coming from?"

"They dress as ordinary citizens so they could keep approaching here on foot and no one would think twice." Ray explained before laying down some surprising fire so the SWAT team could advance to the Snarlbucks and take out the cultists holed up in there.

Zoe was controlling her drones via her tablet and was trying to mark every cultist in the area so they'd be easier to track and eliminate, while she was doing this she commented "Does this whole thing seem off to either of you? I mean the Precinct is getting attacked and Ceartais isn't here, what gives?"

"I was thinking that myself. Most of the team have family that work in this building and they haven't shown up." Aleks concurred, knowing Luna was not the type of mammal to let her family come to harm.

"Don't count them out just yet, look." Ray alerted, pointing to the sky to where Spitfire was approaching the precinct with Andraste in her arms, as the mech circled to land Andraste fired off a few tranq arrows at the Drowned dotted around the outside of the ZPD all of them hitting their mark. Spitfire landed a few feet away from the Camelot strike team and before Ray could say anything Spitfire said "Ray, you need to come with me and Andraste right now."

"What? I can't leave my team." Ray replied, surprised by Spitfire's words.

"Look we have some critical intel that you, Skye and Judy need to hear." Spitfire convinced.

"And we're against the clock, this whole thing is a distraction." Andraste enforced.

"What kind of distraction?" Aleks queried, the seriousness of the situation overriding the awkwardness of speaking to his ex for the first time since they broke up.

"The Drowned are planning a chemical weapon attack and we've got…" Andraste answered, while looking at the timer built into her gauntlet "just under an hour before bombs all over the city start going off."

"Holy shit." Zoe whispered before insisting "Give us the coordinates, we'll take care of them."

"We've already got the team working on three of the bombs but Ray I need you to come with us so we can bring everyone up to speed." Spitfire implored.

Ray let out a frustrated grunt before looking down at Zoe and saying "Nightfall you're in charge, use your drones to help support the SWAT team."

"Yes sir." Zoe nodded then Ray, Spitfire and Andraste rushed to the roof access door back down into the precinct. The large bat then looked at her boyfriend and grinned "Looks like I'm your boss."

"Aren't you always, darling?" Aleks flirted back while looking down his scope.

Within a minute the heroines and Ray were in the make shift crisis room of the precinct, the detective offices, mammals were running around the place, people were shouting down phones and radios, wounded cops were being tended to in the corner and in the centre of the mad maelstrom were Judy, Nick and Skye. "I just got off the phone with Jack, he can have a MCB tactical team here in twenty minutes via chopper." Skye relayed, stuffing her phone in her blazer.

"Great, we need all the help we can get." Judy huffed, looking at the computer screen where the livestream of the child hostages on the Bunnyburrow train was playing "I've still got no word from the governor if we're going to comply with Fuli's demands."

"I just hope Mom and Dad are alright." Nick sighed while texting Ben to protect assistant mayor Clearwater at all costs, at the moment she was the most senior official at city hall.

"They're fine." Andraste cut in, marching over to her parents and Skye with Ray and Spitfire in her wake.

"Swe- Andraste?" Judy responded, correcting herself.

"Where's Basil Dawson?" Spitfire asked urgently, keeping up the pantomime so other cops in the room didn't make the connection.

"He's over there with David, tending to the wounded." Skye answered while pointing to the corner.

Andraste looked up at Spitfire and spoke quickly "You talk to Basil, I'll get everyone up to speed."

Spitfire didn't wait for Andraste to finish her sentence she was already making her way over to her Dads, ignoring all the awe struck looks of the cops in the crisis room. Both Dawsons were trying to patch up a hedgehog cop who got skimmed by a stray shot, they weren't affair of Spitfire's presence until her synthesised voice said "Basil Dawson, I must speak with you urgently."

Basil gazed up at the looming figure and his face was caught between relief and concern "What are you doing here?" he could only ask.

Spitfire crouched down and extended her robotic hand so Basil could climb aboard "Please." Spitfire added.

"Basil go, I can handle this." David pushed while stitching up the wound. Basil didn't say a word back he just looked at his husband with love and worry before climbing up onto Spitfire's paw, as soon as he stable footing Spitfire rose up and walked into a nearby supplies closet.

"Care to share what's going on?" Basil asked as Spitfire closed the door.

"I need you to think fast; Fuli has planted a chemical weapon somewhere in Savannah Central, where would she plant it?" Spitfire asked curtly, not beating around the bush.

"Did you say chemical weapon?" Basil asked, his eyes going wide.

"Dad focus, I know you would've read file Marian sent Judy this morning." Spitfire snapped, knowing her father's habits.

"Right, right." Basil mumbled, shaking off his fear before searching through the file he committed to his eidetic memory he then began to talk at speed "Fuli Duma, 20 years old, works 48 hours a week for minimum wage, a representative of the hotel and casino union, received workplace discipline twice for arguing with management on behalf of the colleagues she called her…That's it!"

"What's it?" Spitfire begged to know.

"Fuli cares deeply for her friends and treats them as family, meaning she has a zero family herself, meaning that her file has the address of the one mammal who truly mattered to her and it's a Savannah central address." Basil informed.

"You think Fuli put the bomb there?" Spitfire questioned, unconvinced by the theory.

"I bet she's there with it, to make sure it goes off, I think she sees this as her final act." Basil theorised.

Spitfire already had accessed the file and found the address she then brought it up on the Mech's gps and gasped "It's right next to city hall."

"Even more reason for her to strike there." Basil informed.

"Thanks Dad, me and Andraste will take it from here." Spitfire replied before opening the supplies closet door.

"Just you two?" Basil scoffed "Where's the rest of the team?"

"Dealing with the other devices the Drowned planted." Spitfire answered bluntly, carrying her Dad back over to her other father before setting them down before David could even enquire to what was going on. Spitfire then made her way back to Andraste who had just finished explaining the situation to the stunned collective of mammals, Nick wasn't miring in his shock though he was already dialing a number on his phone while saying "We need to get the word out about the chemical attack and get mammals somewhere dry."

"I can get the national guard to get the citizens out of the Wave towns." Ray informed before reaching for his radio.

"The MCB and ZPD can help too." Skye backed up.

Andraste was glad to see the weight of the situation had consumed her parents, Skye or Ray and felt a little reassured, she looked up at Spitfire and asked "Have we got a location?"

"It's a long shot but he's never been wrong before." Spitfire asked, she then looked down at Judy and added "When we finish with our mission we'll come back and help round up the rest of The Drowned."

"Thanks, good luck you two and try and be safe." Judy fretted, picturing the two heroines as six year olds again.

Andraste resisted the urge to hug her parents and instead just gave a little mock salute before her and Spitfire made their way back to the roof entrance. Judy could read the hurt and anger in her eldest kit's amber eyes, the vixen had gone through so much in the last couple of days and now this crisis had been piled on top, she sighed and turned back around to the live stream from the Bunnyburrow train and gasped "Sweet cheese and crackers!"

"What is it?" Nick asked, pulling away from his phone for a second only to see an image of two familiar figures entering the train carriage "You've got to be kidding me."

000

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemammals, boys and girls!" A theatrical voice echoed through the train carriage startling the armed Drowned cultists, as well as the child 'hostages'. The terrorists aimed their guns at the bow wielding Hood and the confident looking Maid who was juggling her batons "We are your on board entertainment; prepare to be dazzled by our amazing trick shot and juggling act!" Maid continued.

"Put the bow down!" A ginger furred pig shouted at Hood who had an arrow drawn but oddly not aimed.

"But that's part of our act." The Hood defied with a smirk "Say do you want to volunteer for the William Tell re-enactment?"

"Enough of this crap!" An African Wild Dog cultist snarled, rushing at the Maid, meaning to gun-but the smaller canine.

The Maid predicted the cultist's movements and threw her batons up high causing the Wild Dog to look up briefly, in that brief second of distraction the Maid kicked the terrorist in the groin causing him to double over and drop his gun before Maid caught her batons and slam them on top of his skull knocking him out "Ta-da!" the vixen sang.

The ginger pig was flustered and with a shaky trotter aimed his gun at the Alpaca Olson, who was playing her part of the distressed teacher well, she even let out a little whimper when the pistol was aimed at her head "Drop the bow and the sticks now or I'll blow this bitch's brains out!"

"No you won't." Hood replied nonchalantly.

"W-what!?" The swine cultist stuttered, Olson and the kids were sharing the pig's shocked expression.

"You're not going to shoot that Alpaca." Hood affirmed "I can guarantee it."

"What are you saying?! Drop your weapons!" Olson pleaded, throwing in some fake tears.

"Nah," Maid waved off before returning her attention to the pig "spray her brain all over her students, see if we care."

"Don't push me fox!" The pig cultist blustered.

"Oh come on, it's not hard dear, just pull the trigger and she drops to floor like a sack of spuds." Maid mocked before sniggering to her husband "You know I think this little piggy is shy."

"No he's stupid," Hood replied "a smart terrorist would've shot the armed enemy as soon as they walked in or make good on the threat of killing all the innocent children…but he didn't."

"So this confirms two things one; you're a gobshite and two; this isn't a hostage situation and it's actually a Drowned field trip." Maid added, her sneaky smile hidden under her veil.

Olson's face dropped at these words but after a moment she was smiling and the fake tears were being wiped away then spoke "Well I guess that makes you stupid too, you were against one of us before but now…" she pulled out a hunting knife from her purse and each of the child 'Hostages' retrieved a switch blade from their pockets "…you'll have to face more of the Wave's chosen."

As the kids rose out of their seats and turned to look at the pair of foxes in creepy unison Hood let a little chuckle "But you haven't seen my trick shot yet." The Hood then fired a sonic arrow at the floor of the train, the bulky arrowhead then let out a deafening high pitch screech that caused all the Drowned in the carriage to fall to their knees and cover their ears while the old vigilantes were unaffected thanks to their ear pieces that countered the effects. The Maid and Hood barged down the centre aisle of the carriage making sure to knock out Olson and the pig cultist as they ran past with a baton strike and tranq arrow respectively, the two foxes made it into the little corridor between the carriages and Maid immediately went to the locked panel that said'Staff only'. As the Maid got out her electric lockpick she smiled "Be a dear and cover me."

"But of course, my love." Hood smiled back, looking through the small glass panel on the carriage door and already seeing the suspicious cultists in the dining car approaching.

"I just need a second." Maid replied, opening the lock quickly and revealing the panel where a touchscreen display was lit up, she then got out her smartphone and began to quickly hack the train's flimsy security protocols "And I just hit this button and…" The train carriage that had the Drowned downed by the sonic arrow uncoupled from the rest of the train, along with all the carriages behind it, meaning all the innocent passengers were safe and the number of cultists left to deal with had diminished significantly, as the Maid smugly watched as the disconnected train carriages were left behind further down the track Hood alerted "We've got company!" he pushed the button to open the door and shot a tazer arrow at a zebra cultist running right at them before the rest of cultist fired their guns at the archer, he ducked behind cover and asked his wife "So what's the plan?"

"Hang on a moment, I just want to do one thing before we go kick their arses." Maid replied, while swiping away at her phone.

"And that is?" Hood asked, poking his head out quickly to have a look only to have a few more shots ping off the metallic doorframe.

Maid had hijacked the livestream the Drowned were using to stoke fear in the public and the media and transferred power to her, she looked up at the small CCTV camera in the little corridor and then spoke into her phone so the audio would be picked up "Hey there Zootopia, as you can see those kiddies weren't no normal school students, they were brainwashed Drowned so if the cops could go pick them up that'd be awesome. Now you'll notice that the handsome fox beside me is currently in a firefight with some terrorists. Why you ask? Because they have a bomb, a very nasty bomb that could do a lot of damage to Zootopia, so here's what you are going to do; get away from the snow or any bodies of water, get to the driest place possible, help your neighbours to evacuate safely and calmly. Now that's said, I'm going to help my hubby beat the snot of these wankers." The Maid then put her phone away, unaware of the hysteria she just caused in the city. The old vixen then pulled out her tranq pistol and asked "How was that?"

"You do realise the city will be panicking now, right?" Hood critiqued, retrieving a tranq arrow from his quiver.

"Better to have them panicking and fleeing than oblivious and dying." Maid justified.

"True." Hood shrugged "So shall we continue on our merry way?"

Marian peeked inside the dying car and was immediately met with gunshots, she quickly got back behind cover and said excitedly "Ready when you are."

000

Fuli's emergency contract address was a residence that belonged Tania Jefferson, neither Andraste or Spitfire had time to look who this Jefferson mammal was, they had only one objective; stop the bomb denotating. The building was a 1940s red brick tenement that was opposite city hall, it looked like it had seen better days and it's crumbling exterior was a stark contrast to the modern buildings that surrounded it. The light in Jefferson's apartment was on but the curtains were drawn, Spitfire used her directional mic and could hear the spooky sound of weeping mixed with singing " **Chain, chain, chain…chain of fools."** The voice definitely belonged to Fuli, she was up there but there was the building's heavy insulation was too much for the mech's thermal imaging to detect if any other mammals were in the apartment with her. The plan of attack was simple Andraste would use a grapple arrow to get on the fire escape and smash through the window while Spitfire broke the door down, the difficult part was judging where Fuli was and if she had a weapon, however it was unlikely she would detonate the bomb in the apartment seeing as it would be useless without any water present. Andraste landed silently on the fire escape and listened closely, Fuli was still singing along to songs playing from a speaker while still crying, this spooked the archer a little but she whispered into her comm "In position, Spitfire."

Spitfire instantly responded with a whisper of her own **"Ok breach in 3,2,1…"** Andraste leapt at the weak single pane window and rolled onto the carpet while the front door of the open burst open with a rain of splintering woodwhile one song ended and changed to slow sixties love song of 'You're all I need to get by' sang by Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye.

In a flash Andraste and Spitfire aimed their weapons at the sole mammal in the room; Fuli was curled up on the sofa crying and barely reacting to the intruders, she only glanced at them before sniffing "You two really know how to ruin someone's evening don't you?"

"Where's the bomb Fuli?" Spitfire asked forcefully putting away her tranq launchers and turning on her electro-fists

"All I wanted was to spend my last hours in the last place I was truly happy and even that is robbed from me." Fuli reacted, ignoring Spitfire's question.

"We haven't got time for your 'Woe is me' crap, tell us where you planted the bomb!" Andraste snarled, holding herself and her dark side back from wailing on the cheetah.

"'Woe is me'?" Fuli scoffed "You think you have the right tell someone their sadness doesn't matter?"

"Only when that someone is a psychotic domestic terrorist who is forty minutes away from killing thousands of mammals." Andraste rebutted "Just because you got dealt a bad hand in life doesn't give you to commit mass murder."

"And I guess you're perfect in every way?" Fuli asked back, her eerily still voice making it hard to hear the sarcastic tone.

"Far from it; I'm a murderer, I've trapped a mammal in his body, I've cheated and I've lied to the ones I love but I'd never do what you do." Andraste lectured "So I'll ask you again; where the hell is the bomb?"

"And would I tell you that? This city needs to be cleansed, this city needs to be punished and those who are left will be the worthy survivors." Fuli answered.

"So from croupier to cult leader, that's quite a journey Miss Duma." Spitfire said, trying to trigger a response from the feline.

Fuli looked a little shocked for a moment before her expression mellowed "So you know who I am? That's how you found Tania's address."

"So what does this 'Tania' mammal think of what you're doing? She must've been pretty important to you if you counted her as your emergency contact." Spitfire continued, hoping that Fuli would slip up with her words.

"She can't think anything anymore, she died the night of the Wave." Fuli answered, looking up at a photo hung on the wall it was of a Fuli at her high school graduation with a proud and smiling Springbok woman beside her.

"Guess it was the Wave's will." Andraste baited, keeping a steady aim on the cloaked mammal.

"The Wave had nothing to do with it; she was killed by a trigger happy SWAT officer in Sherwood, she was on a case when the earthquake happened, when she tried to get home her laptop fell out of her bag, the cop thought she was looting and shot her dead…I found out over a month later, her body was left in the morgue and The Drowned gave her a proper funeral while the unnamed cop walked free." Fuli explained, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Case? Was she a cop too?" Spitfire queried.

"Tania was a social worker who specialised in helping kids in the foster system, when I was child she helped me, she made me feel loved, she helped me get into university and when I got thrown out she was there for me too…the last place I was happy was having thanksgiving dinner in this apartment with a bunch of other mammals she had helped over the years…she always used to play these old songs and sing along." Fuli sobbed.

"Would Tania want you to kill thousands of mammals? From what you just said she was a kind-hearted mammal." Andraste asked coldly, trying not focus on Alice's severed paw hanging around Fuli's neck.

"Of course Tania would disagree…but The Drowned are a necessary evil." Fuli responded while wiping away more tears.

"How can mass murder be necessary?" Spitfire tried to convince.

"Because the world will see what happens when an unjust society finally get the punishment it deserves, they will see corpses littering the streets and begin to fear the downtrodden and forgotten. Maybe society will change it's ways or maybe nothing will happen but I guarantee what The Drowned do tonight will inspire others around the globe." Fuli declared, believing wholeheartedly in her words.

"Ok, enough preaching I'm beating the answer out of this cat." Andraste gave a frustrated sigh, lowering her bow and putting her arrow back in her quiver.

As soon as the arrow dropped into it's resting place, a ball of black and white fur burst out from under the skirt of the sofa and leapt at Andraste "For The Wave!" The enraged Bunga screamed, Andraste managed to raise her bow quickly enough to spot his razor sharp claws tearing out her throat.

Fuli took advantage of the chaos and bolted out the smashed window, "Go, I can handle this!" Andraste yelled at Spitfire as she wrestled with the honey badger cultist.

Spitfire didn't hesitate and used her thrusters to give chase, once she was outside she could see Fuli on the top level of the fire escape and clambering onto the roof "Damn she really is fast." Spitfire muttered to herself as she flew up to the roof. Fuli was sprinting at full speed, looking like she was going for a running jump to the next building but Spitfire swooped down and tackled the terrorist leader to snow covered roof with a wail from the feline and the crack of a broken arm. Spitfire flipped Fuli over and pinned her by the shoulders with enough pressure to cause a scream to escape from her lips. Spitfire was about to ask where the bomb was yet again, but she knew she wouldn't get a answer no matter how much pain she applied, so she decided to take a long shot and copy one of her father Basil's old tricks "Where is the…oh never mind, Scarlet and the other just found it." She lied.

"What!?" Fuli gasped, looking towards the roof of city hall, specifically the weather station on top of it.

"Gotcha'." Spitfire reacted, easing the pressure off Fuli's shoulders "You just told me where the bomb is."

"…Fuck." Fuli cursed, closing her eyes.

There was a brief pause before Spitfire offered "Look, you can still do the right thing here, I read the bomb schematics there's a universal deactivation code, give us the code and it'll look better when you go to trial."

At that second an out of breath Andraste emerged from the fire escape and announced "Bunga's knocked out and tied up."

Spitfire ignored Fuli for a moment and told her best friend "The bomb's on that weather station on the City hall roof."

"Right, let's tie this one up and- SPITFIRE LOOK OUT!" Andraste screamed.

Spitfire looked down at Fuli to see a unpinned grenade in her paw, with weeping green eyes she whispered "For the Wave." Spitfire used her thrusters and darted off Fuli and grabbed Andraste just as the grenade exploded, ending Fuli's life and staining the snow covered roof with her scattered remains.

Spitfire who had shielded Andraste from the blast looked down at the archer and asked "You ok?"

"Y-yeah…I should've spotted the grenade." Andraste breathed, looking at the strewn limbs and exposed organs of the newly departed villain.

"We'll worry about this later," Spitfire refocused, scooping up Andraste in her arms "let's deactivate that bomb." The mech and costumed vixen quickly flew over to the city hall roof and to the raised metal platform that housed the weather station, spotting the chemical weapon instantly but actually to a normal citizen it could be mistaken for weather reading equipment. The two landed and looked at the cylinder shaped bomb that was three quarters the size of Andraste, the top was glass and inside were hundred of styx sand fashioned into pinball sized projectiles, when the bomb went off these would spread for nearly half a mile delivering the deadly gas as soon as it struck water. Andraste didn't even make a quip as she fished out the disarm disks and placed it on the bomb's electronic panel, after a few seconds the countdown timer stopped and the LCD display showed the word 'Disarmed'. Andraste let out a sigh of relief before looking up at Spitfire and saying "No time to waste, let's get Bunga to the ZPD and check on the others."

000

The styx bomb in the Meadowlands park wasn't placed in the centre of the green patch of land, it was actually at the main gate with the Drowned disguising their presence by acting like utility workes fixing some streetlights. The park gate was only two hundred metres from The Tall Grass estate, the most wealthy suburb of The Meadowlands where the cheapest house would cost $15 million dollars but there were hundreds of families on that estate and if the bomb denoted the body count would be hauntingly high. Now Roar and Mage weren't known for their tactics or being super intelligent like other members of the team, they were the masters of winging it and that what they were doing now. Mage had drove Bella at full speed at the six Drowned cultists with the transformed Roar in the flatbed of the pickup, the terrorists dove for cover as Bella smashed through the construction fence they had erected. Roar leapt out of the flatbed and immediately ran at the largest mammals of the Drowned group; two elephants and a polar bear. "Come here." Roar snarled, scooping up the dazed polar bear and launching at the female elephant who was charging at him, the large white bear's mass struck the elephant in the gut causing them both to tumble to the floor.

A few metres away Mage got out of Bella's driving seat and threw a sleeper card at a wallaby scrambling for his gun, before the wallaby hit the floor Mage was already running past him and heading straight for the bomb which was under a small open work tent. As he ran he rummaged in his pocket and grabbed the disarm disks that Spitfire had given him, all he needed to do was to get one of them on the control panel and it would be out of commission, it was only ten feet away when he was brought to the ground by an albino stag, the disks fell from his paw and he could look in horror as an elephant's massive foot crushed them "No!" Mage barked before grabbing the stag by the horns and delivering a brace of thumping headbutts to the stag, forcing him into unconsciousness. Mage rolled the albino stag off him only to see a jackal with an assault rifle aiming at him, the trickster wolf yelled "Evanescet!" and his light bending tech activated leaving the armed cultist confused for a few seconds until an inviable force pulled the rifle from his hands and gun butted him across the jaw. The Mage reappeared just as Roar finished off fighting the remaining elephant by tearing off one of his tusks and smashing it over his head "Roar we got a problem!" Mage alerted.

"What's wrong?" Roar panted, stepping over and making sure not to crush the floored Drowned under his feet.

"That elephant you were fighting crushed the disarm disks, we've got no way of deactivating the bomb." Mage answered, racking his brain for an solution.

"Damn it," Roar spat "listen if we can't deactivate we need to get in away from a populated area. We've only got thirty or so minutes before that thing blows."

Then out of nowhere the synthesised voice of Bella spoke **"There is an underground parking lot 4.6 miles from our current location, it goes six levels down and when the bomb explodes it will be far from any water mains or snow."**

"That sounds like our best bet." Roar agreed, rushing over to the tent and grabbing the bomb.

Mage didn't like the idea of his truck having a bomb in it but there was no other choice "Fine we'll go with your plan Bella." He said begrudgingly as Roar opened the back door and put the bomb in the back seat.

" **Thank you Mage, this is the wisest course of action."** Bella thanked.

Mage went around to the driver door, put his paw on the handle and found it was locked "What the? Bella open the door." He said in a confused manner.

" **I am sorry Mage."** Bella then took off at top speed down the street.

"Bella!?" Mage shouted with confusion and fear, Roar was stood beside him wearing an equally perplexed expression.

" **Mage this is the safest course of action, I will not risk you and Roar's lives."** Bella's voice came through both heroes' earpieces.

"Bella get back here right now!" Mage ordered, feeling his heart sink at the unravelling situation.

"He's right Bella, come back. We can do this together." Roar enforced, as the speeding pick up turned a corner and went out of view

" **Zootopia still needs the pair of you tonight, this is a risk I can't allow you two to take."** Bella explained in a pragmatic manner.

"Bella we need you, I need you. You can't just go on a suicide mission!" Mage pleaded.

" **Mage, I will not die, I am backed up on the Bunker's main computer, when the truck explodes I will be stored on the computer and I can be installed into a new vehicle…This is not goodbye, more like a see you later."** Bella told, sounding kind.

Mage had tears in his eyes as he accepted the situation, Bella wasn't going to die but it still hurt, he composed himself before saying "Then let me just say you were the most beautiful and kick ass pick up truck a wolf could ask for."

" **Thank you Mage."** Bella replied curtly " **Now you two should head back to Precinct 1, it's still under attack, if you ride on Roar's back you should make it there in sixteen minutes and eight seconds."**

Mage wiped away his tears and looked up at Roar "You heard the lady, big guy. Let's go kick some more Drowned ass."

000

The Drowned had picked the place in the Rainforest district that would cause the most damage; they had planted the styx bomb on top of the Treetop Mall, the busiest shopping area in the whole of Zootopia which was open late and it's selection of bars and restaurants were always packed. But the mall was not encased in a building rather it was collection of storefronts and restaurants built into the treetops on the canal district border, the Drowned had placed the bomb on a maintenance platform high above the shops meant for tree surgeons to proon the canopy when it overgrew, from this spot the styx bomb would explode and engulf everyone in the mall in the lethal gas.

Scarlet and Bullet had silently climbed up into the canopy and were in a tall tree overlooking the maintenance platform where a quartet of Drowned cultist were guarding the bomb, all them armed with assault rifles. Bullet detected the shapes of the mammals and whispered "A rhino, a stallion and two panthers…we could've used Roar on this one."

"I can handle them, they might be big but I'm strong." Scarlet quietly smirked.

"You can take on a rhino?" Bullet asked back.

"I can try." Scarlet shrugged "So what's the play, blind badass?"

"Well I have a plan but it's going to be painful for you." Bullet replied with an awkward smile

Scarlet rolled her eyes and muttered "Well fan-fucking-tastic."

A minute later, a female spotted panther cultist was checking the time on her phone when she heard a loud thud on the wooden platform, she looked up to see Scarlet running at her with her night stick raised above her head "Come on you pricks!" Scarlet howled.

"Shoot her!" The spotted panther shouted back, the four cultists began shooting at the red clad heroine who went down in a hail of bullets, she collapsed to the floor after taking a dozen or so shots to the abdomen.

The loud gunshots caused the shoppers below to start fleeing in panic, above the sound of screams below a male black panther growled "Damn it, they're running! Why did you tell us to shoot!?"

"She was going for the bomb!" The spotted panther justified, contemplating whether or not to open fire on the fleeing mammals.

"Holy shit, did we just kill the Undying Scarlet?" The Stallion gawped, stepping away from the bomb and going to the motionless body of the heroine.

"No way, she's gotta' be knocked out or something." The Rhino chimed in, going over to inspect the body.

"Let's shoot her in the head to make sure." The spotted panther decided, standing over Scarlet.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A cheeky voice teased from behind. The spotted panther, Rhino and Stallion turned around to see their black panther comrade knocked out on the floor and a victorious looking Bullet stood next to the bomb with had a strange looking disk attached to its LCD display.

"Get her away from the bomb!" The spotted panther commanded in a loud voice.

Bullet spun out of the way as the cultists began to fire while the 'Dead' Scarlet slammed her nightstick into the spotted panther's kneecap, shattering it completely before upper cutting the terrorist's jaw and knocking her out. The Stallion was charging at Bullet while firing his machine gun, Bullet danced and dodged around the shots before somersaulting into the air and landing a sleeper shot on the back of the Stallion's neck but as soon as her feet touched the ground she was sent to the opposite of the platform by a powerful punch from the Rhino. Bullet let a out a strange cry as her body went limp on the floor, Scarlet saw this and jumped at the Rhino while screaming "You bastard!"

The Rhino had no time to get to fire his gun so he tapped into his animal instincts, he lowered his head and aimed his horn at the screaming hybrid. The horn went straight through the right side of Scarlet's chest, as she was impaled she began to cry in pain but with her right lung punctured there was no air to fuel the sound. The Rhino smiled as Scarlet's blood coursed down his horn and face, he aimed his gun at the very close and weakened target before smirking "For the Wave!"

Splat! The smirk was wiped from his face by a sleeper shot that hit square in the cheek, his rifle dropped from his hands the Rhino crashed onto his side as he forced into slumber. Bullet hobbled over while panting "Princess, you ok?"

Scarlet replied by pushing her feet down on the sleeping cultist's face and forcing herself off of the impaling horn while roaring in pain, when she was free she slowly rose to her feet and wheezed "I've been better." While watching the massive hole in her chest close up, her body trembling from the pain.

Bullet could detect the density of Scarlet's top had changed, leaving part of her chest exposed. Not wanting for her girlfriend's bare chest to be on display Bullet took off her jacket and handed it to Scarlet "Here, put this on."

"Thanks." Scarlet winced, donning the jacket and zipping it up "Did you deactivate the bomb?"

"Mission accomplished, now let's catch the sky tram and get back to Savannah Central." Bullet suggested, letting her weakened loved lean on her.

000

The Maid and the Hood had been pinned down at an overturned metallic serving trolley in the dining car for over twenty minutes while exchanging fire with the four remaining terrorists guarding the final bomb. "Figures they'd have the most competent arseholes guarding the bomb." Maid complained while loud gunshot echoed around the carriage.

"Well I hate to pile on the bad news but I'm nearly out of arrows." Hood told, wondering how much ammo the cultists had left.

Maid let out an annoyed growl as she looked around the carriage for a solution, she spotted a window to the left and a plan quickly formed "Have you got an explosive arrow in your quiver?" she asked hastily.

"We can't use any explosives it might trigger the bomb." Hood replied, the repeated sound of gunfire was ringing in his ears.

"No, I want you aim at that window over near the bar, the shock will startle them long enough so we can charge." Maid explained, knowing that it was a bold tactic.

"You're the boss." Hood complied, drawing an explosive arrow and firing it at the window, the loud bang and the shatter of glass startled the cultists as planned, Hood and Marian burst from out of cover and swiftly moved forward; Maid managed to get a tranq dart in the chest of a Tasmanian devil while Hood used his last tazer arrow on a massive bull Gaur. The Maid went to slide behind a table for cover but as she did she was hit by a spray shot her chest, she tumbled behind cover with vulpine squeal of pain.

"Marian!" Hood yelled but before getting tackled by a empty-shotgun wielding maned wolf, the other canine grabbed him by his quiver strap and pushed his body to the smashed window and tried to force the archer out of the speeding train, the remaining glass around the window piercing the Hood through multiple points in his back, it hurt like hell but he fought through the pain. The Maned Wolf then pushed harder, gashing the Hood's neck on the broken glass as he tried to lift the much lighter mammal off the ground and throw him off the train but was abruptly stopped by a gunshot, the maned wolf's skull burst open with a splatter of bone and crimson coated flesh. Hood looked to where the shot had come from to see Maid with a handgun in her trembling right paw and her paw clutched to one of the shotgun wound on her chest. The Hood pushed the Maned Wolf's corpse off him and freed himself from the glass that had stabbed through the back, not noticing that the glass had also severed his quiver strap and it had fallen out the window, along with the cryo arrow needed to free the bomb's electronic components. The Hood tried to make his way over to Maid but soon fell to his knees, not realising how bad the glass had stabbed him, blood pooled around him as he breaths became shallow "M-Marian…" He spoke, trying to crawl over.

"Now, this is not what I was expecting." A coy voice spoke causing Maid and Hood to tense up and look for the source. A wiry female mongoose appeared from behind the bar with glass imbedded in the side of her face but she wasn't armed with a gun, in her hand was a black handle with a red button on it; a bomb trigger.

Maid forced herself to her feet and stumbled over to her stabbed husband while aiming at the mongoose with a shaky paw "Y-you planning on letting that bomb off early?" Maid dared, feeling dizzy from the blood loss.

"Oh, this isn't for the Styx bomb." The Mongoose corrected before stepping over to the first aid kit on the wall and opening it up to reveal a massive amount of plastic explosive "This was an insurance policy in case special forces boarded the train and managed to get near the bomb."

Hood looked at the cylinder shaped bomb near the passenger door and noticed it was resting on a black plastic mat "I-I'm going to guess if anyone moves the bomb that pressure pad will cause that C4 to go off." He slurred, clutching a paw to his back to put pressure on the stab wound.

"Correct." The Mongoose smiled "But I never expected the legendary Maid and Hood to turn up, I've got to say I'm kinda' of a fan."

"So how's this going to p-play out? You going to blow us sky high if we attempt anything?" Maid quizzed, her bullet wounds burning her chest and her right lung feeling like it was in a vice.

"Pretty much." The Mongoose sniggered.

"You D-Drowned really are dumb." Hood let out a painful laugh.

"What?" The Mongoose reacted.

"So we either get blown to hell now or wait and watch Zootopia get engulfed by gas?" Maid asked but before the Mongoose could answer the old vixen took advantage of the terrorist's confusion and shot her between the eyes, the Mongoose dropped dead with the trigger still in her hand.

"R-right, let's get this thing deactivated." Hood panted, reaching for his sole cryo arrow only to be horrified and find his quiver was gone "W-where is it!?"

"It fell out the window when you were fight that wolf." Maid winced in pain as she hobbled over to dead Mongoose, crouched down with a hiss and took the C4 trigger out of her paw.

"So what do we do now?" Hood asked weakly, as he shuffled over and sat against the train door with his blood trickling out of the stab wounds.

Maid made her way over and carefully sat beside her bleeding love, looked at the trigger and sighed "It's time to make a call."

000

The detective offices in precinct were still in pandemonium when the six heroes of Team Ceartais walked in, it turned out that they didn't need to take out any more Drowned as Camelot, SWAT and a tactical MCB assault team led by a bow wielding Jack Savage had either killed or captured the attackers. As the heroes entered the room there was a round of applause from the cops, agents and Camelot, word had already spread they had stopped their bombs. Skye had hold Jack back from running to Bullet and embracing his little girl in a hug but soon enough the six heroes were stood before Nick, Judy, Jack, Skye and the trio of Camelot operatives. "Thank god you're all safe." Nick expressed, giving Andraste a handshake and a wink instead of a more suspicious hug.

"Shame Bunga's the only Drowned leader who'll got to trial." Aleks commented.

"I don't care about Bunga, any word from the old farts yet?" A worried sounding Scarlet asked, looking odd wearing Bullet's jacket.

"Nothing, the live stream is still fixed on that corridor leading to the dining car." Judy answered, sounding just as worried.

"How long have we got until the train reaches Zootopia?" Mage questioned anxiously.

"Just over nine minutes." Spitfire answered, having a countdown displayed in the mech's cockpit.

Suddenly all of the team's earpieces buzzed into life " **Maid to Ceartais do you c-copy?"**

"Maid, we read you!" Andraste replied, subconsciously taking hold of her sister's paw.

" **D-did you deactivate the b-bombs?"** Maid asked with a tired stammer.

"Yes, all bombs neutralised, we're at Precinct 1 with the mayor and the chief." Bullet answered, her stomaching sinking upon hearing the weakness in the Maid's voice. The Wildes, Savages and Camelot couldn't hear the conversation but they were listening intently to the Ceartais' reactions.

" **Good, g-good you're all together… could you all be dears and look at the live stream please?"** Marian requested.

"What is she saying?" Nick asked in a fretting manner.

"She said look at the live stream." Roar answered with dread, knowing something was seriously amiss.

Everyone looked at the multiple computer screens around the office displaying the live stream; there was collective gasp around the room as the image changed from the train corridor to a security camera image of a train door with the gravely wounded foxes slumped with their blood pooling around them "No, no, no, no, no!" Scarlet reacted, an icy sensation running down her spine.

"What's happening?" Bullet asked urgently.

"They're down, they're hit pretty bad." Mage answered, not wanting to believe his eyes.

"Mom! Dad!" Nick yelled, not caring that all the other mammals in the room could hear him.

" **So here's the situation,"** Hood began, his voice transmitting on the live stream via Marian's phone **"all the hostages have been saved, the Drowned are either unconscious or dead but I've lost the one thing that could deactivate the bomb, also we're a little worse for wear."**

"Throw the bomb off the train!" Andraste suggested with a shaky voice.

" **A-afraid we can't do that, the bomb has a pressure sensor wired to a enough C4 to blow this train to kingdom come."** Maid dashed the idea

"Oh god no." Jack uttered, realising what they were about to do.

"They…no." Skye couldn't form her sentence, the shock of the situation hitting her like a hammer to the head.

"What!? What is it?" Judy asked Jack, shaking him by the shoulders.

"They're going to blow up the train." Jack answered, tears stinging his eyes.

"What!? Maid, Hood whatever you're thinking, stop thinking it!" Scarlet demanded, her heart aching with fear.

" **We h-have to, we can't let the gas…hit the city."** Hood responded, his voice getting weaker.

"Give me your mic!" Nick shouted at Mage, who clipped off his collar and handed it over without a second thought "Mom! Dad! It's Nick, listen-"

" **Nick! Oh my little kit!"** Maid interrupted with a happy voice **"Now I k-know what you're going to say…but you know this is the only way to stop the Drowned."**

"No, look, we still have time, the air force could fire a missile at the train!" Nick babbled, tears pouring from his emerald eyes as Andraste broke down and cried into her younger sister's shoulder.

" **T-there's not enough time Nicky, we just wanted to say goodbye."** Hood answered, his breathing becoming strained.

"Don't you dare, don't you do this!" Mage cried "We need you!"

" **We've never been more proud of you Ceartais, you've p-proven to be the s-shining light that Zootopia needed."** Maid spoke, becoming weepy as the live stream showed her resting her head on her husband's shoulder.

"Don't do this…" Roar whispered, his eyes moist with tears.

" **You all need to look after each o-other now, don't let this light be snuffed out, k-k-keep the dream alive."** Hood implored with shallow breaths.

"We won't, we promise." Spitfire reacted, inside the mech the little brown mouse was a mess of tears and despair.

" **Don't be sad…we've had a good life, we had a wonderful s-son who married the b-best bunny in the city, we've blessed with two beautiful granddaughters and had the honour of being friends with some of the best mammals in the world…we love you all."** Maid cried with a defiant smile on her muzzle.

"We love you too…" Nick choked, reaching out and touching the monitor.

" **You look after h-him, Judy. You make sure our boy is ok."** Hood spoke, his voice growing brittle,

"Don't you worry, I love you two." Judy wept, holding onto Nick.

" **Bullet, there's something I need to tell y-you."** Maid spoke up.

"What is it?" Bullet asked in a trembling voice, imaging the gruesome scene on screen.

" **I left something in your kit locker back at The Bunker…I t-think it's time to use it."** Maid revealed cryptically.

Bullet let out a small wail before promising "Ok, just be looking down on me when it's come down to it."

Maid nodded on screen and held up the trigger **"I hate…to end things early b-but if I don't do this now, I'm going to bleed out."** She said breathlessly.

"No…" Nick whimpered, unable to tear his eyes away from the stream.

Hood looked at Maid and charmed one last time " **Marian, my darling, I love you more than life itself."**

" **And I love you, my sweet Robin."** Maid replied, looking into her love's eyes for the final time and positioning the trigger in both her's and the Hood's paw

" **OO-DE-LALLY!"** The dying couple yelled before locking lips for a everlasting kiss, they pressed their thumbs down together on the trigger, there was a bright light then the live stream went black.

Nick let loose a grief filled scream as the every cop in the room gasped and cried at the sacrifice, the mayor fell to the floor and sobbed heavily with Judy holding onto him. Scarlet held onto her already crying sister and wailed in emotional anguish as the other around them could only react with shock wave of sadness. Roar took hold of Spitfire, Mage and Bullet as they cried the same tears of grief. The Mage let out a loud howl of sadness as the reality of the situation sunk in; the day was saved, the Drowned were defeated and Marian and Robin had given their lives for the city.

(AN/...So what did you guys think? Please leave a review and sorry but there will be no preview for the next chapter, only 1 chapter left and the epilogue so please review and c ya soon!)


	56. Love goes on and on

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox and here's the penultimate update of SOC. Thank you for all the lovely reviews for the last chapter and I'm sorry to the dev team for making them cry in the last 2 betas. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)

 **Chapter 55 – Love goes on and on.**

Robyn Heather Wilde looked at the black dress on the bed, trying to psyche herself up to put it on. The teenager was standing in her Dad's old bedroom in the home of her recently departed grandparents, the Wilde family had stayed the night in the house with closed caskets of Robin senior and Marian laid out in the living room. Robyn kept on staring at the black dress she knew she had to put on but she didn't want to, as soon as she put on that dress she would have to go downstairs and watch as her grandparent's coffins were carried out of the house, put in a hearse and driven to their funeral. "Come on Wilde, suck it up." Robyn chastised herself, as she finished talking to herself her long rabbit like ears picked up the sounds of sobbing coming from downstairs, it was a sound she had heard often in the last seven days; her father crying.

Robyn knew if she kept on listening to Nick's crying that she would in turn weep herself, she needed to block out the noise so she quickly stepped over to the small TV in the corner of the room and switched it on to drown out the sound. On the screen was the ZNN anchor Fabine Growley who was already reading the latest headlines and as Robyn finally mustered up the courage to get changed into the dress while she listened to news.

" **And it's been one week since the 'Snow Day' terror attack was foiled by Team Ceartais and Zootopia is still reeling from the aftermath."** Fabine read from an autocue while an image of Ceartais' star logo appeared in the corner of the screen " **In the space of a few hours 4 police officers were killed defending Precinct 1 in Savannah Central and 29 Drowned terrorists were killed by the ZPD, MCB and the military. Through data obtained from the Drowned's base of operations the MCB were able to confirm the identities of 512 mammals who were part of the terrorist group, those who were not killed or arrested during the 'Snow Day' have been detained and sent to rehabilitations centres to help rid the mammals of the brainwashing techniques implemented by Fuli Duma, the leader of the Drowned who committed suicide during the failed attack. The justice department and district attorney refuse to comment whether or not the arrested individuals will face criminals charges."**

While Robyn slipped into her dress she remembered the initial rage she had felt in the minutes after seeing her grandparents sacrifice themselves, she had wanted to run to the holding cells of the precinct and tear apart every single Drowned cultist she could get her hands on, but she was held back by Kion. The big hearted lion kept a tight grip on the heroine while imploring her to see reason and to think about what Marian and Robin sr. would want, eventually her anger subsided and she returned to her grief. Robyn tried not to dwell on that moment for fear of it triggering another bout of tears, she continued to get dressed while she focused on the news on the TV. " **In related news, the joint funeral of Marian Wilde and Robin Loxley will be held today with many of Zootopia's citizens expected to line the streets to the church where the service will take place. The married couple also known as The Maid and The Hood bravely rescued a train full of hostages before sacrificing themselves to stop a chemical weapon being spread through Zootopia. The once wanted criminals who were legendary for robbing from the rich and giving to the poor have been revealed to be MCB informants who helped bring down a drug empire over sixteen years ago thanks to MCB documents that were declassified in the last week. And according to reports the two foxes were linked with Team Ceartais with many theorising that they founded the superhero group. Tributes have poured in from across the country and the world for these brave souls who gave their lives for Zootopia but critics say that their son, Mayor Nick Wilde, should step down in light of the recent revelations stating nepotism breaches by deputizing Team Ceartais, the team created by his parents. Mayor Wilde responded with a statement read out by Assistant Mayor Clearwater saying 'Zootopia chose me to lead this city in it's darkest hour and I will not abandon that responsibility, my parents taught me to always do what was right and I will keeping do right by this city. I only ask that my family and I are given time to mourn and we would like to ask the press to respect our privacy at this time.'"**

Robyn had finished getting changed and quoted sadly "'Time to mourn', huh?", she then switched off the TV and exited Nick's old bedroom and made her way downstairs, a little thankful that she could no longer hear her dad crying. She couldn't help but glance at the two mahogany coffins in the living room as she reached the bottom of the stairs before taking a left into the kitchen where mumbles of conversations were coming from. Robyn entered the kitchen to find it packed with the mammals closest to Robin sr. and Marian; Nick, Judy, Finnick, Jack and Skye were sat at the table on which Basil and David were on top of, all of them talking a low volume with Judy holding to the distraught Nick's paw. While at the kitchen counter Luna who had Olivia on her shoulder had Hannah, Kion and Jasiri around her, Robyn saw everyone was wearing black and figured Marian would make a joke about them being 'Closet Goths', she smiled slightly at the thought as she approached the younger group of mammals and asked, "Any word from Kodi?"

"I just got a text from him, his Dad's just parking the car, they should be here in a second." Kion answered before asking carefully "How are you holding up, squirt?"

"Well I am not the best…I don't think any of us are." Robyn answered, looking at Luna's puffy and bloodshot eyes and instinctively taking hold of her big sister's paw "We're just going to have to get through this together."

"Thanks Robbie." Luna smiled sadly "I know you're worried about me, but worry about yourself too."

"I know it's just…" Robyn began but struggled to complete the sentence.

Thankfully Olivia was the type of friend who was brutally honest "It's just that your girlfriend was kidnapped and your grandparents died within the space of two days, so what we're trying to say is we're worried about your double dose of sadness." Olivia spoke bluntly, knowing that Luna would appreciate the forwardness of the words.

"…What she said." Hannah agreed awkwardly, shuffling over to Robyn and wrapping her long tail around her.

Luna shook her head before saying "Listen this last week has been one of the worst things of my life, I'm not going to lie. But today is about Nana and Granddad, we need to honour them, bury them and remember them…and then tomorrow I'm going to start searching for Alice."

"You'll find her, I know you will." Jasiri willed, scarred by the abduction of her friend.

Just then there was a soft rapping on the back door out to the yard, the door opened slightly and Kodi popped his head in "Hey." He said in a reserved tone, his voice devoid of his usual upbeat attitude. He opened the door fully and in he walked with the three other members of Jones family; Sasha, Gazelle and Wade. Kodi made a b line for the Wilde sisters and gave them both hug while Nick and Judy got up from the kitchen table and walked over to greet their guests.

Thirty minutes passed with mournful conversation, well wishing, hugs and some more tears before the four-mammal team of undertakers arrived, ready to take Robin sr. and Marian to their funeral. The very polite and compassionate boar undertaker explained to the four Wildes would be on foot and follow behind the hearse while the rest of the mourners would stay ten feet behind. Once the coffins were loaded into the hearse Nick, Judy, Luna and Robyn readied themselves for the toughest mile of their lives, they exited the front door of Marian and Robin sr.'s home to see the sidewalks packed with mammals behind barriers manned by cops, by the looks of it thousands had turned up to say goodbye to the fallen heroes. Nick's body was already trembling as he walked up to the hearse, flanked by Judy and their girls, his emerald eyes were glistening with tears as he saw his parent's coffins side by side in the back of the hearse. It pained him that he would never see their faces again and the last image of them he had in his head was their heavily burned and damaged faces when he identified them at the morgue, it was a closed casket ceremony for this reason. Nick was brought out of the traumatic memory by the touch of Judy's paw linking with his, he looked down at his wife who spoke softly "We're with you, slick." Robyn then took hold of her dad's left paw while Luna held Judy's right, the family would walk hand in hand to the funeral. Nick glanced behind him to see the other mourners ready to follow the funeral procession, his childhood friend Jack and Finnick were already trying their best to hold back their tears, he gave them a nod of solidarity before returning his attention back to the task ahead of him.

The hearse began to slowly drive the street and the Wildes followed with their hands linked and the rest of the mourners followed ten feet behind. Luna couldn't help but glance at the crowd, mammals of all species were respectfully silent as the procession passed by, most of them were wearing black but some were donning the colours of purple and green in tribute to the Maid and Hood, other wore T-shirts with the Star of Ceartais logo printed on the front. "Mom would hate this." Nick spoke suddenly, still following the hearse.

"Huh?" Robyn sounded, noticing that her father's paw was shaking.

"Dad was always the one for pomp and ceremony, but Mom hated all that fancy crap, even at funerals." Nick replied, his voice weighed down by grief.

"They really were opposites." Luna concurred, keeping a close eye on her emotionally fragile father.

"And yet they loved each other, acting like lovesick teenagers all through the years…even at the end." Judy sniffed, her watery eyes betraying her stoic demeanour.

"I wish…I wish I hadn't been such an asshole to them at the Opera House, why did I let my anger get in the way?" Nick asked rhetorically, each word feeling like a splinter in his throat.

"Dad, don't dwell on that, ok? You made peace with them, that's all that matters." Robyn reminded, trying to reign in her emotions but she could hear her voice cracking with sadness.

"I banned them from your birthday party," Nick sniffed "I was so petty, so god damn childish."

"Nick stop talking like that." Judy willed, sharing her husband's guilt.

"I..I…" Nick started to speak but let out a cry instead, his knees buckling and causing him to stop abruptly in the middle of the street and start bawling. The hearse and funeral procession paused as shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Oh Dad." Luna spoke with tears in her eyes, joining Judy and Robyn as the crouched down to the distraught fox.

"Come on Dad, on your feet." Robyn rallied with tears streaming down her face.

Judy hugged her dumb fox tight before saying "I know you don't want to say goodbye, but we have to. We have to do it together as a family."

Luna and Robyn joined the hug and let Nick recover for a moment before helping the grieving son to his feet. The rest of the journey to the small church in Sherwood was done in silence but the each of the Wildes knew that they had each other, loved one another and all shared the same sadness.

The coffins were brought into the church which was packed with mammals who came to pay their respects; Nick spotted Bogo, Clawhauser and their sons, the assistant Mayor Alana and her boyfriend Bailey, his bodyguard Ben, the Bigs along with half a dozen polar bears, Aleks, Zoe, Ray and Kiara, Nala and Simba as well as hundreds of others who came to honour the lives of the two fallen heroes.

The service began and the opossum priest led a hymn and cited a few prayers before the first of three speeches began and it was Jack Savage who was the first to step up to the altar and speak from the podium, he didn't need a written speech he was going to speak from the heart. "Every time I've turned on the TV or the radio this week I've been hearing about the heroics of The Maid and The Hood, but today I want to talk about the heroics of Marian and Robin." Jack began, looking at the coffins and feeling a lump grow in his throat "Robin and Marian were my godparents, some of my earliest memories involve them whether it'd be Marian rustling up a veggie stew or Robin teaching me how to handle a bow and arrow they were always smiling and there for my family." The striped buck's eyes became watery as he continued "When I was seven two debt collectors came to my family's apartment and tried to sexually assault my mother, if Robin hadn't arrived and ran them out god knows what would've happened. Fast forward to when I was thirteen and a fire had broken out in the building I lived in, I got pinned by a burning ceiling beam and I thought I was going to be burned alive but Marian raced into fire and pulled me out…what I'm trying to say is that they were my heroes whether they were in their normal duds or dressed as their alter egos. And I know they were heroes to mammals all around Sherwood too; whether Marian was teaching you IT or Robin was repairing your car they weren't just superheroes they were everyday heroes as well." He then looked again at the coffins once again and wept "You weren't just heroes to me, you were family too and I love you."

Jack then walked away from the altar but was caught off guard by Nick rising from his seat and wrapped his best friend in a heartfelt hug, the rabbit hugged back and shared his pain, it was a hug between brothers. After a moment the two mammals sat down signalling the next mammal to walk up to the podium; Luna took a deep breath then stepped up to begin her speech, she wiped away some tears before unfolding a piece of paper and saying in a grief stricken voice "To a lot of people my grandparents are legendary figures but to my sister and me they were just Nana and Grandad, but they were far from the grandparent stereotype; Nana was a party loving punk who refused to grow up and Grandad was a hopeless romantic who worshipped the love of his life until his final moments. But they were also mentors too; teachers to a group who many though would show up today; Team Ceartais. Well I have a message from Ceartais right here that I've been asked to read out." Luna revealed, holding up the sheet of paper before reading from it "Hood and Maid were more than just the founders of this team, they were at the heart of everything we did. They saw talent we didn't even now we had, they pushed us to be the best we could be, they always had sage words of advice for our troubled minds and words of comfort in trying times. And make no mistake we are here today, paying our respects without our masks because we're mammals just like everyone else that need to grieve and honour the lives of the mammals who made our lives so much better. Hood and Maid founded Team Ceartais to be better than what the MM gang was, where the MM gang stoked fear in mammals they wanted Ceartais to bring hope to ordinary mammals, to show that justice can prevail in even the darkest of times, the Star of Ceartais will burn ever brightly over Zootopia and we will never stop the work The Maid and The Hood began." Luna then folded the piece of paper and returned to her seat where both her paws were immediately linked with Robyn and Judy's.

There was one speech left, Nick knew this was going to hurt but he also wanted to honour his parents too, he fixed the fur on his tear soaked face before getting up and making his way to the altar, he looked out at the crowd of hundreds and mammals and felt no fear of speaking only the fear of this being the final farewell to his Marian and Robin sr. "I don't want to talk about how my Mom and Dad were badass vigilantes or how they saved Zootopia, we already know in our hearts that they are heroes. I want to talk about love." Nick said, feeling his heartstrings being pulled at "Fifty years ago a delinquent vixen orphan with a massive IQ walked into the classroom of one of the poshest boarding schools in England and came face to face with a preppy, goody two shoes son of an aristocrat and guess what? They instantly disliked each other. They came from two different worlds, different social classes and had different attitudes when it came to education. But they did share one quality; a moral compass that always pointed to justice, eventually the icy rivalry thawed into a friendship and then warmed up to love and so began the legend of The MM gang. A year later my Mom was pregnant with me and my Dad had a choice to make; give up his aristocratic title and inheritance and run away with my Mom to America or abandon her and live in the lap of luxury. And we all the choice he made because I wouldn't be standing here right now. The thing is I am convinced that love was the thing that guided all of my parents' actions though life; when they eloped to the states it was for love, when they built a life together it was for love, when my Dad took the fall for a crime my Mom committed it was for love and their love was kept alive through all the years they were apart and when they finally reunited they were those same loved up kids they were years before." Nick's eyes were now flowing freely with his tears as he continued "And in their…in their dying moments they couldn't help but declare their love for each other one last time. Like Luna said in her speech, my Mom was a punk and loved to rock out to her old albums but there was one song she used to sing that wasn't punk and I think it sums up my parents' life pretty well. She used to sing 'Life is brief, but when it's gone, love goes on and on.'…Their love will never die and our love for them will never disappear." Nick paused and wiped away some more tears, took a moment to compose himself and then concluded his speech "Now this is going to be a little odd but years ago my parents gave me a strange request to be carried out at their funeral. Whenever they were out fighting injustice as the MM gang they would always leave the initials MM where they had been, so in keeping with that tradition they wanted me to do this…"

Nick stepped away from the podium and walked over to the coffins of his parents before reaching into his pocket and producing a penknife from his suit pocket, he unfolded the knife and proceeded to carve the letters MM into the solid mahogany lid of Robin sr.'s coffin before going over to Marian's casket and repeating the meaningful vandalism. Tears pitter pattered onto the lid as he dragged the knife across the wood, when he was finished he placed a paw on each coffin and softly whispered "I love you."

000

The next day came and Robyn and Hannah stepped out of the elevator into the bunker. Robyn instantly looked up at the observation deck and felt a twinge of pain to see it was empty, she wanted more than anything to see her Grandad pottering around and making tea or hearing her Nana sing along to whatever punk song she was playing, but the room was empty and silent.

Hannah could sense Robyn stroking one of her droopy ears and said in a kind voice "You don't have to go on patrol tonight, Kodi's offered to take your shift."

Robyn shook her head and sighed "Luna and me have had a week off, you guys have been covering all our patrols."

"We don't mind, you and Luna can have all the time you need." Hannah reminded, reaching out and stroking her girlfriend's cheek.

"Nah," Robyn shrugged, savouring the gentle touch of Hannah's paw "Nana and Grandad wanted us to keep the dream alive and I plan on doing that, besides I've the Blind Badass in my corner if I need a cry and cuddle."

"Anytime." Hannah smiled, knowing that Robyn, the girl who never usually cries, had been through the emotional ringer in the last week

"Anyway shall we get changed and head out?" Robyn suggested, wanting to focus on something else other than her grief.

"Sure let me just get my spare jacket out of my kit locker, according to Kion your blood stains are still on my other one." Hannah said while wandering over to the armoury entrance.

"Hey it's not my fault I got gored by a rhino." Robyn playfully justified following Hannah into the armoury.

The two walked into the brightly lit armoury and Hannah went over and unlocked her locker while Robyn leaned on her own. It was the first time Hannah had opened her kit locker since 'Snow Day' and her paws were shaking with anticipation of what lay inside, Hannah's static pulse detected the shape of a small box lying in the centre of her neatly organised locker, she touched her paw to the small ring box Marian had left for her and felt a surge of excitement in her gut.

"Hey babe," Robyn spoke up brining Hannah out of her daze "you know when Nana and Grandad were talking to us on the train, what did my Nana mean when she said she left something for you in your locker and that it was time to use it?"

A sly grin grew on the striped hybrid's muzzle as she played "Oh it's nothing."

"Nothing? Come on, it was one of Nana's dying words, what was she talking about?" Robyn pressed, the words had been bothering the teen for a week.

"It's something dumb, you wouldn't care about it." Hannah continued to bait, grinning at the ginger furred heroine.

"Try me." Robyn offered, wandering why Hannah was smiling.

"You really want to see it?" Hannah asked mischievously.

"Yes, for god's sake." Robyn groaned, itching to know what the secret was.

"Ok, but you've got to close your eyes." Hannah replied playfully.

"Really?" Robyn grunted.

"Please." Hannah piled on, faking a quivering lip.

"Wait you can't see, how will you tell if my eyes are closed?" Robyn questioned.

"You wouldn't trick a poor helpless blind girl, would you?" Hannah asked, feigning being hurt.

Robyn gave in and closed her eyes while grousing "Helpless blind girl my ass, more like guilt tripping sneak."

After a few seconds Hannah instructed "Ok you can open your eyes now."

Robyn opened her navy eyes to find Hannah down on one knee with a small red ring box opened in her paws with a ring resting within that Robyn instantly recognised as her grandmother's engagement ring. Her heart was thundering like a freight train, her cheeks were crimson under her fur, her eyes were transfixed on the diamond ring, butterflies were swarming in her stomach yet the shock of what has happening only let her voice babble breathlessly "You…Nana's r-ring…I-I-I…"

"I can you're a little lost for words so I'll say my bit first." Hannah said, her voice a little shaky with nerves, she had rehearsed what she wanted to say for the last week and now it was time offer her heart and life to the girl she loved "Marian gave me her ring because she knew we were like her and Robin, that even though we're young we know we've found the mammal we want to be with for the rest of our lives. We have been through so much since we started dating, we gone through more hardships than most couples will ever have in their lifetime but I can't picture going through life without the girl that I love by my side. Our life will never be normal, it may never be like those grand tales of love but if I can marry the princess then I'll have my fairy tale ending…Will you marry me?"

Robyn was smiling and crying tears of joy as she spoke from her heart a simple but loving "Yes."

(AN/ Please please please Review folks, tell me your thoughts and guess what? NO SPOILERS FOR THE EPILOGUE! So please review and c ya soon...)


	57. Epilogue- A Princess and her Knight

(AN/ Hey folks it's Garouge/Crewefox here with the final update of soc! Thank you for sticking to the end! I hope you enjoy this ending! So i want to thank the TAS dev team, you folks know who you are, you wonderful people have helped me crafts stories, submitted your own OCs and create amazing works of art that bring this fic to life. I count all of you as my friends and my life is better for knowing you all, plus this fic made 2 of these dev team members a couple! So without further ado let's get cracking with this epilogue...)

 **Epilogue- The Princess and her Knight.**

Hannah Savage was sat on the bedroom bay windowsill of Heather Hopps' farmhouse taking in all the wonderful sensations her super senses were transmitting to her brain; the warmth of the early April sun, the smell of the crops, flowers and soil outside in the fields, the sound of excited voices throughout the house and the buzz of bees from the hives half a mile away. Today was going to be a perfect day, Hannah knew this, it was finally time for her to marry Robyn. It had been six and a half months since she had proposed and it already felt like a lifetime ago, Hannah remembered being a tad scared when her and Robyn gathered their family and friends and told them the news. Nick was dumbstruck, Judy, Jack and Kodi were literally jumping for joy, Skye was a mess of happy tears, Luna was shocked at first but soon got whipped up in the excitement, Olivia played it cool and congratulated the couple but on the inside she was gushing with feels and Kion couldn't resist wrapping the happy hybrid couple in a hug. Nick nearly ruined the joyful moment by asking "Aren't you two a little young?" but was soon convinced by Judy and Jack that getting married young was not so strange in rabbit culture and seeing as both the girls were half lapin they would just be one of many teenage couples getting married in Bunnyburrow over the next year. The location of the wedding wasn't a surprise to the teenage brides-to-be, it was a well known fact that no species alive did weddings like bunnies did and with the bunny tradition of the biggest family hosting the wedding Hopps farm was to be the venue for the ceremony and reception. Hannah chuckled at the thought of getting married today and returning to school in Zootopia on the Monday with a new surname (Which both brides were keeping secret until the end of the ceremony), the couple would then hold off until summer vacation to take a honeymoon to the Canary Islands which was Luna's wedding gift to the loved up teens. Until then the girls would continue their studies in the day, fighting crime at night and chilling out in the small Sherwood home they had inherited from Robin sr. and Marian, the two were set to move into the house tomorrow and neither of the brides could wait to start their life together.

Hannah's happy thoughts were put on hold when a gentle knock came at the door of the guest room she was staying in "Come in." she said.

The door opened and Skye and Heather walked in, surprised to see the striped hybrid was already awake "Well someone's eager to walk down the aisle." Heather grinned, hardly believing that the girl she had known since birth was marrying her niece.

"I've been awake for an hour, just taking in the sounds." Hannah replied, her tone blissful as her expression.

Skye stepped over and placed a paw on her daughter's cheek and smiled "We're going to make sure you and Robyn have the most perfect day."

"It's already perfect." Hannah chirped, nuzzling her Mom's paw.

"I can't believe I'm getting a daughter in law so soon, I'm just s-so happy." Skye got hallway through her sentence before gleeful tears started leaking from her aqua blue eyes.

"Oh Mom, it's bunnies who are supposed to emotional, not foxes." Hannah joked, she was used to her Mom's happy tears, the federal agent had become weepy at every stage of the wedding planning and now that the big day was here there was no change.

"I hate to admit but every time one of my kits gets hitched I start blubbering like a baby, every god damn time." Heather confided, putting a comforting paw on Skye's shoulder before turning to Hannah and adding "When you and Robyn have kids, you'll understand."

"Pump the brakes, I want to be out of college before me and Robyn start thinking about adopting." Hannah cautioned but was actually happy that Heather could see the two hybrids being mothers.

"Fair enough," Heather accepted "anyway the fur stylist is ready for ya', is it ok for her to come in?"

Hannah nodded in reply, ready to take another step to a new chapter in her life.

Downstairs in the den, Hannah's bridal party were relaxing before the inevitably busy day got underway. Kodi was the 'Dude' of honour, while Kion was a Bride's 'Dude' and Kiara was a bridesmaid. The boys were dressed in matching black morning suits with navy blue waistcoats and navy cravats while Kiara was donned in a bridesmaid dress of the same shade of blue, Kodi had urged Hannah to pick this colour scheme because it reflected the blue mask she wore when she was Bullet. The three large mammals looked out of place in the room built for bunnies but this was a safe haven seeing as the numerous rabbit kits running around the expansive Hopps farm were fascinated by the large predators, all three were surprised by the literal swarm of fearless kids that would clamber all over. The predators were supping from beer cans for large mammals provided by Heather, even though Kodi and Kion were under the legal age Heather waved off their fear and told them it was tradition for a bridal party to be a little tipsy throughout the day. "Ok so I should include the story of when I caught them making out in my truck in the Dude of honour speech?" Kodi asked.

"Totally, you need to embarrass them a little." Kiara encouraged, her wheelchair sporting blue ribbons and flowers that matched her dress.

"Yeah that and the princess incident will surely get some laughs, that's if Luna doesn't tell the story first in her Maid of honour speech." Kion pointed out, enjoying his beer.

"Crap, I didn't even think about that." Kodi mumbled, wondering if he could wing it if the need arose.

"Wait before we go any further I need to ask you guys something," Kiara asked in a low volume.

"What?" Kion responded.

"What are the names of the two lesbians getting married?" Kiara asked in serious tone.

Kion and Kodi eyes bulged, the wolf's jaw dropped while the lion gawped "What!?"

Kiara then gave the slyest grin possible and teased "Gotcha'." Before cackling.

"Why you…Ugh, you got me." Kion conceded "You're the only mammal who would joke about their memory loss."

"Meh, I've got 70% of memory back, all the important stuff like my friends and the fact that my brother is still a gullible little runt." Kiara kidded, finishing her can and tossing in the trash.

"I'm glad Sasha isn't a trickster like you." Kodi commented, passing Kiara a fresh beer can from the mini fridge.

"Ahem." The sound of someone clearing the throat caught the bridal party's attention, Heather Hopps was stood in the doorway looking smart in a summer dress and sun hat "Lady and Gentlemammals, I present to you the bride."

Heather then stepped aside and in walked Hannah with her cane in one hand and a bouquet of red and blue tulips in the other, there was a collective gasp as the three friends looked at their friend's dress. Hannah was in a snow white strapless dress with a train behind it and a veil that could not hide her beauty. The bride felt like a million bucks despite being unable to see herself, but she still had to ask "So how do I look?"

"Hannah, you look absolutely beautiful." Kion expressed.

"Perfect, a perfect bride." Kiara spoke truthfully, feeling a little emotional seeing the kid she used to babysit garbed in such a beautiful wedding dress.

"Stripes…you look…" Kodi sniffed, overcome with joy and not caring that he was crying in front of everybody.

Hannah let out a small laugh as she walked over to the wolf and playfully said "I think what you meant to say was 'Stripes you look amazing'."

"Yeah, that." Kodi laughed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Come here." Hannah invited, opening her arms up for a hug, Kodi hugged the striped hybrid gently as not to crease her dress, Hannah then added "You know I'm a lucky mammal, I've been blessed with two best friends in my life, you and Robyn were always there for me no matter what and I can't think of anyone I'd want more as my Dude of honour."

"It's an honour Stripes, you two are my real life OTP." Kodi said with heart, pulling back from the hug.

"Kodi Jones; boy racer, playboy and shipper extraordinaire." Kion chuckled.

"And thank you to you guys as well, thank you for being with me on the biggest moment of my life." Hannah thanked the Priderock siblings before smiling "So about we head to the ceremony and get a ring on my finger?"

000

Where the mood at Heather's house had been happy and calm the mood at the main Hopps homestead was frantic and stressed; kits were running all over the place, Bonnie and some of Judy's siblings were barking orders to the older kids to help set up the reception and Robyn was far from relaxed. "Where the hell is my tiara!?" Robyn panicked, rummaging through her suitcase and tossing clothes out in a desperate search for the headwear.

"Robbie relax, we'll find it, Grandma's got everyone looking for it." Luna eased, the maid of honour was already in her dark red bridesmaid dress.

"I can't relax! I need that tiara, Hannah gave it to me for my birthday!" Robyn stressed, pulling on her ears. The fiery teen was pacing up and down the length of the bedroom in a bath robe, while her two other bridesmaids, Olivia and Sasha, tried to contain their laughter at the freak out they were witnessing.

Sasha took a photo of the Robyn's anxious expression and chuckled "And that's definitely going in the wedding album."

"Can't you two do something, I'm in a panic here!" Robyn huffed, thumping her foot repeatedly on the floor.

"Oh we are doing something; watching your hilarious little tantrum, bridezilla." Olivia smirked, the brown mouse was sat on Sasha's shoulder with a cherry lollipop in her mouth.

"I'm not a bridezilla!" Robyn snapped while waving her arms, nearly knocking over the ice bucket on the dresser where a champagne bottle was resting.

"Yeah right," Luna sniggered, sipping from a champagne flute "ever since you announced your engagement you've been a total bridezilla. Remember when we went dress shopping."

"And the florist." Sasha reminded with a small laugh.

"Don't forget the bakery, you nearly made Gideon's apprentice cry." Olivia grinned.

"Ok, I get it. I've been a nightmare, but I just want my wedding day to be absolutely perfect." Robyn justified.

"It will be, just drink some champagne with us, it might calm you down." Luna suggested.

"Alcohol doesn't work on me remember? My nanomachines process it before I can even get a buzz." Robyn pointed out, she had found this out the hard way at her bachelorette party.

At that moment the bedroom door opened and the breathless duo of Bonnie and Judy scampered in "We found it, we found the tiara." Judy panted, holding the black felt box where it resided.

"Oh thank god." Robyn breathed, putting her paw on her heart "Where was it?"

"Your cousins were playing pirates, we caught them trying to bury this 'Treasure' in the back yard." Bonnie explained, going over to the ice bucket and pouring herself and Judy a glass of champagne.

Judy opened up the box and showed Robyn that the tiara was unscathed "Now that crisis has been averted, how about we get you into your dress?" The police chief asked in an excited manner.

"Right." Robyn replied, finally calming down.

"Before you do that I need to give you something." Luna spoke up, stepping over and picking up a shopping bag from a ritzy department store "Now I know you said you didn't want too many traditions at your wedding but I figured you might like this one."

"Hmm?" Robyn sounded, curious about what Luna had for her.

"Ok so you know the whole thing about a bride wearing something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new well I figured this could take care of the old, borrowed and blue." Luna said, reaching into the bag and presenting Robyn with a very recognizable choker; the strap was purple with decorative silver leaves sewn in and in the centre there was a beautifully cut blue sapphire with a gold frame.

"Nana's choker." Robyn whispered, recognising it instantly. Marian always wore the choker despite it clashing with her usual punk fashion sense "Luna, she left this to you, are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, it's something borrowed, old and blue all in one." Luna smiled, putting the choker in Robyn's paws "Nana would want you to wear this."

"Marian and Robin are going to be looking down on you today with such pride." Bonnie said, touched by the sweet gesture between sisters.

"So what about the something new?" Sasha queried.

"Well that's in here." Luna smiled slyly, passing the bag to Robyn.

Robyn peeked inside and her fur went instantly on end, her cheeks became hot and she gasped "L-Luna!"

"What is it?" Olivia enquired, knowing Luna's sneaky smile a mile off.

"Bridal lingerie." Luna smirked.

"I can't wear that, it hardly covers anything!" Robyn babbled in a flustered way.

"Well that's sort of the point of it, it's not for practicality, it's for the bedroom." Luna pressed, twitching her eyebrows.

"But Hannah's blind, she won't know if I'm wearing that." Robyn countered, trying to weasel out of wearing the extremely revealing garment.

"It's to make you feel sexy." Sasha chimed in before taking a picture Robyn's embarrassed face.

"You are way too young to be thinking stuff like that." Robyn replied, feeling protective of the younger girl.

"Oh loosen up Robyn, it's not like you and Hannah have never had sex before." Judy commented, wondering why her youngest daughter was always so prudish whenever sex came into the conversation.

Robyn's navy eyes went wide and her ears went droopy, she didn't say a word but her silence spoke volumes. "You're shitting me!" Olivia laughed "You're a virgin?"

"W-well I'm only sixteen." Robyn parried, setting the bag and choker down.

"Wait your marrying Hannah and you two haven't even slept together?" Luna asked, her disbelief clear on her muzzle "You could've at least sampled the goods."

"Yeah I mean by the time I was your age I had already…" Judy began.

"Mom I swear to god if you say another word about your sex life I'm going to sew your mouth shut." Robyn interrupted.

Bonnie then began to chuckle "You're going to be the first virgin bride in the family in over a century."

"Grandma, please stop talking." Robyn whined, covering her embarrassed face with her long ears.

"All right, all right, we'll lay off." Judy waved off "Now let's get you in that dress."

000

The wedding ceremony was to be held in a clearing in the middle of the peach orchard not far from the main Hopps homestead where a few hundred guests were already seated, at the top of the aisle was a wooden arch with hearts and bunnies hand carved into it where Bunnyburrow's mayor Sharla Grey was reading through her notes before she presided over the wedding and at the entrance to the clearing there was an open gazebo tent where the ushers would show the guests to their seats but this was also where the trio of Nick, Jack and Stu were waiting for the ceremony to begin. Traditionally fathers accompanied their daughters from the house to the ceremony but due to Nick and Jack's behaviour both brides had put their feet down and told them that they'd have to wait at the orchard. The reason for the fathers of the brides' banishment? Names. Over the last couple of weeks both Jack and Nick had been pestering the girls about what their married surname would be with both brides wanting to keep it as a surprise for the wedding day, that had not stopped the fox and buck bunny trying to persuade them to take their respective surnames. It had gotten so bad the girls told them they would banned from the houses on the morning of the wedding but even though they were no longer bothering the brides to be that didn't stop the best friends bickering. "I'm telling you they are going to pick Wilde." Nick blustered, Stu was beside his son in law with a fed up expression on his face, this argument had been going on for over twenty minutes.

"Savage is the clear choice, it's a cooler name, Wilde is just a generic Irish surname." Jack argued.

"My surname is not generic, besides they'll choose Wilde to honour my Mom." Nick countered.

"No they won't, their names already honour your parents, Robyn is named after your dad and Hannah's middle name is Marian." Jack shot down.

"You know maybe they'll combine the names, that way both families are represented." Stu spoke up, not understanding why the two friends were so worked up.

"Well then it will be Wilde-Savage." Nick stated.

"Savage-Wilde!" Jack steamed.

"Wilde-Savage!" Nick barbed.

"You guys still bitching about names?" A voice coaxed, the three males turned to see Heather Hopps approaching them "You best cut that out before they hear you."

Jack shook off his irritation from the argument and asked "Is Hannah here?"

"She's just on the other side of the gazebo, ready for ya' to walk her down the aisle." Heather smiled "I just spoke to Judy on the phone, Robyn's bridal party will be here in a few minutes so we best get started before the brides see one another in their dresses."

Jack fixed his tie and straightened his cufflinks, ready to look presentable. Hannah then came around the corner, her right arm linked with Skye's, Jack heart swelled as he looked at his beautiful daughter in her elegant wedding gown. "Little one…" The buck muttered, while Nick and Stu smiled contently, Hannah truly was a sight to behold.

"Hey Dad." Hannah smiled softly, able to smell the salty tears in both her parents' eyes.

"You look beautiful." Jack said, stepping forward and taking hold of Skye's paw for emotional support.

"Our sweet striped angel." Skye added, leaning and marking her daughter affectionately, before pulling Jack into a group hug, Hannah kissed both her parents on the cheek and treasured the warmth and love of the hug.

"Sorry to break this up but we got to get this show on the road," Heather butted in "Robyn's going to be here in a minute."

"Right," Hannah replied, pulling away from the hug "I'm ready."

Stu took that as his cue and rushed out of the gazebo to tell the Bunnyburrow amateur orchestra to start the music, both brides had chosen different music to walk down the aisle to, with Robyn choosing the traditional Bridal Chorus by Wagner and Hannah selecting timeless Clair de Lune by Debussy.

As the music began every guest turned around to see the first procession come up the aisle; Kiara went down first blowing a flirty kiss at Ray who was sat towards the back of the crowd due to his size along with Aleks and Zoe, then went Kion who hated all the eyes on him so he focused on his parents sitting with a glowing Jasiri whose paw was rested on a very pronounced baby bump. Then Kodi went up, nodding at his parents who looked at their son with pride and finally it was time for the first bride. Hannah stepped out of the gazebo with both arms linked to her parents, this was the part of the ceremony the happy couple had decided to be done differently to the old tradition of just having the father giving the bride away. Robyn and Hannah wanted their mothers to be part of that too, however both Jack and Skye were in a happy yet tearful state as they walked their baby down the aisle while Hannah looked serene as always. They reached the arch where Mayor Sharla and the bridal party were waiting, the small family exchanged whispers of 'I love you' then both Savage parents sat down and waited for their very soon to be daughter-in-law to arrive.

The music faded and changed to the recognisable bridal march, the few hundred guests turned around again and looked to gazebo as Robyn's bridal party approached. Sasha with Olivia on her shoulder came down the aisle first, smiling brightly at their respective families, with Olivia's boyfriend Blake looking stunned that his girlfriend was dressed in something that didn't reflect her love of heavy metal. Then the Maid of Honour, Luna, walked down the aisle with a warm smile on her muzzle but wishing deep down that a certain someone was at this ceremony, she dismissed the thought as selfish and foolish before regaining her focus. At last, Robyn began walking down the aisle flanked by Nick and Judy who were matching the Savage's waterworks. At the top the aisle Kodi noticed a sad smile on Hannah's face, she could hear everyone commenting on Robyn's beauty and her dress and it pained her that she'd never be able to see it. Kodi deduced what was bothering the troubled bride before leaning and whispering a description "She's wearing the tiara you bought for her 16th, she's dressed in a white strapped dress with a pink ribbon around her waist, she looks like she just stepped out of a fairy tale and to top it off she's wearing Marian's sapphire choker, basically Stripes she looks enchanting."

Hannah smiled at her best friend, it was a beautiful gesture, she didn't need to say thank you, her expression said it for her. Robyn had a giddy grin plastered on her muzzle, as her parents took gentle steps she was skipping with joy down the aisle; she couldn't wait to be Hannah's wife. Nick and Judy gave their youngest daughter one last hug and kiss before taking their seats.

Robyn and Hannah handed their bouquets to their respective maid/dude of honours, joined paws and sweetly smiled at one another. "Hey Blind Badass." Robyn cooed, getting lost in Hannah's beauty.

"Hey Princess." Hannah reciprocated in a dreamy voice, her hyper sensitive hearing could detect both her and fiancé's racing heartbeats.

Sharla Grey looked at the young couple with a buzz of excitement, she could tell these crazy kids would last together, the black ewe took note that the guests and orchestra had fallen silent so decided to begin "Welcome everyone to Hopps farm where Hannah Marian and Robyn Heather have chosen to start a new journey together in the presence of their families and friends. By the act of marriage, they declare their love for each other and dedicate their lives to their union."

The ceremony began and Sharla gave a speech about love, went through the necessary legal stuff and asked the guests if there was any reason this marriage shouldn't take place they should speak up now, thankfully there were no words spoken although Kodi had to resist the urge to pull a prank. Sharla then said "Now Robyn and Hannah have decided to write their own vows to each other and they invite you to listen to their declarations of love, Robyn you're up first."

Robyn had rehearsed these vows in the mirror and in front of bridal party for the last few weeks, she knew the words off by heart but now that she was looking into her love's eyes she realised they were no longer just words, they were promises. "Hannah, through the years that I have known you I have never been without joy, whether as my best friend, my girlfriend and now my wife you always make places brighter and happier whether you walk, you're like the brightest star in the sky. I want to stay in the light of your love til' the day I kick the bucket and I swear should that light fade just the slightest I'll move heaven and earth to make you shine again. I would offer you my undying love, eternal friendship and unquestionable loyalty but the fact is you already have it, you always have and you always will. I love you Hannah and I want to shine like a star with you."

Hannah was crying with the romantic words echoing in her ears, she had love in her heart and she wanted to put it into her vows and decided to change a few of her lines "Robyn, my first memory of you was when we were toddlers and you chased away a cockroach I was afraid of, even then I knew you'd always be there for me. When I was bullied at school, you'd come rescue me like a knight in a fairy tale. When the Wave hit Zootopia and I was blinded, my beautiful knight saved my life again. But being the knight in shining armour is just a small part of who you are, I know the real you, the you that you don't let many mammals see. You are sweet, you are kind, you're romantic and even though I'll never see your face again, the memory of your beauty is always visible in my mind. Kodi described how amazing you looked as you walked down the aisle; enchanting as a princess. So, here's my vow; let me be your knight, you've cared for me through the years and now I want to return the favour. As your knight I will be the one to rescue you when you need me, shower you with so much love you'll never feel alone and you, my princess, will be the keeper of my heart."

The vows ended and the majority of the wedding guests had tears in their eyes, especially the bridal parties and the brides' parents. Sharla wiped away a stray teat and commented "That was beautiful girls. Now Robyn and Hannah have decided to symbolise their union with the exchanging of rings, these rings not only represent the bond between these two but their vows as well. Ring bearers, if you please."

Luna stepped over and passed Robyn Hannah's wedding band and whispered "Good luck, Robbie."

Kodi put Robyn's wedding ring in Hannah's paw and quietly grinned "You got your princess, Stripes."

Sharla saw both rings had been handed over and decided to start with Robyn "Robyn Heather, do you take Hannah Marian to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Robyn couldn't contain her glee as she watched Hannah slip the gold wedding band onto her outstretched ring finger, she felt giddy and breathless as she felt ring rest around her ring finger where it would remain forever "I do." Robyn sang.

"And do you Hannah Marian, take Robyn Heather to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Sharla asked with a huge smile on her face.

Hannah's soul was overflowing with glee, she felt the ring finding it's home on her finger and happily cried "I do."

"Then by the power vested in me by the county of Bunnyburrow and the state of California I pronounce this couple married." Sharla declared "You may seal your bond with a kiss."

Robyn hastily lifted Hannah's veil and both girls locked lips instantly and whoops of celebration and applause erupted from the crowd, but Robyn and Hannah blocked them out, all they could sense was the kiss, the first kiss as a married couple. When their lips finally parted Sharla eyed Nick and Jack before announcing "It is my honour to introduce to you Mrs. And Mrs. Wilde-Savage!"

"Hot damn!" Nick celebrated, hugging Judy with tears of joy streaming down both their faces.

000

Nearly three hours later the reception was in full swing, the speeches had been read, the first dance had been performed and the cake had been cut. After a huge meal, prepared by most of the Hopps family who always chipped in together to create fantastic wedding feasts, the brides were ready to throw their bouquets. Both Robyn and Hannah were on the makeshift dancefloor outside the Hopps homestead ready to launch their bouquets at the hundred or so potential brides, with most of them being bunnies related to Robyn.

"Ok, me first." Hannah stepped up, turning around so her back faced the crowd "3,2,1…" Hannah gave a decent throw and yips of excitement came from the crowd of wannabe brides, some bunny does tried to jump up and grab the bouquet but when it was at it's highest point a blur of ginger fur swooped in the sky and caught Hannah's bouquet.

"I got it!" Zoe Nightfall yelled joyfully before flying above her boyfriend Aleks and teasing "Look what I got fluff tail."

Aleks gulped a little with nerves but smiled up at the ravishing flying fox sporting a gothic style corset dress and coaxed "Is that a challenge, darling?"

"Woo-hoo! Great catch Zoe!" Hannah congratulated.

"That throw was lame for a knight," Robyn kidded her wife, before holding up and flexing her guns "I'll show you how a princess throws."

"Big talk, let see if you live up to the hype." Hannah bantered, before delivering a quick kiss for luck.

"Ok girls at the back, get ready." Robyn told the crowd before turning her back and readying her throw "and YEET!" Robyn threw the bouquet with strength, a little too much strength and it went way over the crowd, and the guests seated at tables before landing in the lap of the oblivious Kiara Priderock who was chatting to her boyfriend Ray at the bar. "What the?" Kiara sounded, picking up bouquet.

"Looks like there's a Priderock wedding on the cards!" Robyn shouted over before laughing giddily.

Kiara was blushing under her fur as she looked up at Ray and laughed awkwardly "Silly traditions."

Ray smiled and smoothly said "Actually I'm all for tradition." Loving the cute and embarrassed expression on his lioness' face.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the party Luna was leant against one of the many barns on the farm, she could see Robyn and Hannah dancing and smiled contently at the happy couple even though inside her own heart was broken. "You ok?" A caring voice asked.

Luna looked to her right to see Aleks approaching her with his paws in his pockets "I'm good, I just needed a break." Luna fibbed.

"You're still a terrible liar." Aleks pointed out "It's ok to talk to me, we're still friends."

"I know…it's just hard to talk about. It hurts to talk about her." Luna conceded, knowing it was useless to lie to her ex.

"Look I know you probably don't want to hear this right now but I think you and Alice falling in love was the best thing for everyone. You just got to have hope." Aleks encouraged.

"Best for everyone?" Luna gave a pained laugh "I cheated on you, lied to my friends and family, nearly lost my mind, let Alice go on a mission and get her arm chopped off and then when it came down to protecting her when she needed me most I failed."

"I've thought a lot about what happened between us and yes we loved each other but not at the same time, I thought I was in love with a surgeon who came from a family of cops but you're more than that, you needed someone who understood the real you; that's why Alice is the perfect fit for you." Aleks spoke, leaning on the side of the barn.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, but you're right our love was messed up, I think I was in love with the idea of you, that by having the perfect boyfriend all the other crap in my life would disappear, I was an awful person…but at least you got your happy ending, Zoe's a wonderful mammal." Luna replied, hugging her own tail.

"Actually Zoe sent me over here to talk with you." Aleks admitted.

"She's got a big heart that girl, worried about her boyfriend's ex." Luna chuckled.

"There is that but she also wanted me to show you something that you're not supposed to see." Aleks corrected, looking around to make sure no one was listening before taking out Zoe's small phone out of his pocket.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked, wondering why Aleks was acting so cautious.

"Something classified and if the government knew Zoe was showing you this she'd be court martialled." Aleks said, unlocking the phone and passing it to Luna.

Luna took hold of the phone and let out a small shocked gasp when she looked at the screen; it was a grainy security camera still of what looked like Tundra Town docks and in the centre of the image was a white rabbit doe with golden eyes wearing a winter jacket and a knitted hat, in her one paw was a sports bag with the hilt of a katana poking out. "A-Alice…" Luna spoke with a trembling voice.

"That was taken at 5.13 am this morning from a port authority security camera, Zoe has had a facial recognition program running ever since Alice got kidnapped in case we got a hit. Alice is alive, Luna and she's back in Zootopia." Aleks explained.

Luna touched the image before promising "I'll find you."

 **THE END**

(AN/ So what did you think? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review! So what happens now? Well ziegelzeig is going to be releasing a spin off about what Alice has been up to called 'Prey Upon' which is due for release soon and the third and final instalment of the take a stand series; The Broken Mirror will debut on Monday the 18th of June, cos I need a couple of weeks off from producing chapters every week)


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